Without you
by Rach1989
Summary: It was never Jesse's intention to fall for her, but that's exactly what he had done, all he had to do was to convince a certain Rachel Berry of this. Jesse and Rachel fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Glee Fanfic, but I've been toying with the idea for a while now. It's based on the relationship between Jesse and Rachel, set after Shelby's revelation in laryngitus. This is how I would like the story to pan out anyway. But I guess it's because I love Rachel and Jesse as a couple, although I'm probably in the minority. I'm really going to work on this fic, and it's not going to be plain sailing throughout the fic, so if that's what you're looking for, then this probably isn't the fic for you. Expect plenty of twists and turns throughout. It's also going to explore Rachel's friendship with the other characters as well as her relationship with Jesse.**

**Please leave me some comments, as I'd love to know what you're thinking, what you'd like to see etc. As like I said this is my first Glee fiction so I'd really appriciate some feedback.**

"Your mum recorded this for you, she wanted you to hear it," Jesse stated as he placed the tape into Rachel's machine. She bit her lip anxiously as she watched him; he turned to face her and placed a soft kiss on her lips. He smiled as he hit play and walked out of her bedroom, leaving her alone with the tape and her thoughts surrounding it.

As he walked out of the house he noticed a familiar car sitting at the end of the street, he sighed as he approached it, it was never meant to be this complicated. He was to do a job, and that was all it was ever meant to be, but now he didn't want it to ever end. He opened the car door and got it, simply staring at the woman in the car.

"Did you do it? Has she heard it?" Jesse closed his eyes and simply nodded.

"She's listening to it now," he mumbled,

"Good, then when all this is out in the open, you can come back to Vocal Adrenaline where you belong," Jesse turned to face her, this had gone further than a glee club, it didn't matter to him anymore what club he sang, what mattered to him now was her.

"What if I don't want to come back?" he asked, she rolled her eyes and gave him a smile.

"You don't mean that,"

"She trusted me Shelby; I've just forced all of this onto her, what sort of person does this make me?" Jesse explained, She shrugged and stared out of the window.

"You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to this, you can't go soft on me now,"

"I didn't know her then, she's given so much up for me, it's not fair on her none of this is. Why couldn't you wait until she was 18 and ready?"

"And how is that fair on me Jesse?" she snapped, shocking him with her abrupt attitude. He glared at her.

"It's her life your messing with, she was happy before all of this, she's supposed to be your daughter, don't you care about her feelings at all?"

"Of course I care, that's why I'm doing all of this," Jesse shook his head and opened the car door.

"I'm through with this, you're on your own Shelby!" he shouted slamming the door behind him as he began walking down the street, she switched on the engine and began driving after him.

"Jesse! Jesse come back here!" she shouted to no avail. Jesse was furious with her, he wanted nothing more to do with this absurd plan of hers. Rachel didn't deserve any of this, she was innocent of everything, she'd already given up so much for him, she didn't deserve to be treated in this way. He was going to tell her truth, he was going to find a way, whatever it took. She'd understand that it started out as a favour for Shelby, but now it meant so much more than that.

Rachel sighed as the song came to an end, she wiped away a tear and turned off her tape machine. She'd never really thought about having her mum around, she had her dads and they were just as good, possibly even better than having a mum and a dad. She loved then dearly, but now Jesse had awakened something within her, something that until recently she didn't realise was there. She now had a longing to discover her mum's identity, and fill something that had been ripped open only a few days ago. As she sat in the silent room, she heard voices coming from outside, she strained her ears curiously and was more than a little surprised to hear that one of the voices belonged to Jesse. Quickly, she pulled herself up and headed outside, picking up her keys as she did so. She ran out and noticed Jesse shouting at a following car, anxiously she made her way over to him.

"Jesse? Jesse, what's going on?" she asked, Jesse froze and turned her face her, his face softening as his eyes met hers.

"Rachel, what are you doing here?" he asked, taking her hands in his.

"I heard voices, Jesse what's going on?" her eyes moved towards the car, Jesse, beginning to panic raised a hand to her cheek and gently turned her head to face his.

"Nothing," he smiled and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead, she gave him an uneasy smile but she still couldn't stop the curiosity eating away at her. She turned her head again once more and the panic in Jesse began to rise, he had to do something to distract Rachel, and why was Shelby just sitting there?

"I thought you were listening to the tape," Jesse said quickly, he noticed something flicker in Shelby's eyes, he focused his eyes on Rachel as her eyes slowly met his again.

"I was...I mean I did," she bit on her lip and dropped her eyes to the floor, fighting back the tears once more. The song was still very raw in her mind; the disruption caused by Jesse shouting had merely been a distraction to her.

"So what did you think?" he asked quickly, Shelby watched on with eager eyes.

"She has an incredible voice," Rachel mumbled softly, Jesse sighed at her sadness, he'd done this to her.

"Maybe you should discuss this with your dads? I'm sure they'd be happy to help you," he added, Rachel shook her head defiantly, she had to do this on her own, she couldn't risk hurting her dads like this.

"No Jesse, I need to find her on my own, thank you for encouraging me," she placed her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder, he returned the hug and let out a quiet sigh. It was amazing how perfectly her body fitted against his. He couldn't shake of the guilt he was feeling right now, he was going to tell he tonight. Then they could be honest with each other. He'd accepted her after the 'Run Joey Run' incident, so she should be able to accept him after all of this, she'll see that he never actually meant to hurt her. He was so wrapped in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed that Shelby had gotten out of the car and was approaching them. She began clapping her hands slowly, pulling Jesse from his thoughts, Rachel lifted her head and stared at Shelby for a moment.

"Well done Jesse," she said clearly, Jesse groaned inwardly.

"Jesse what's she talking about? What's going on?" Rachel asked as the Vocal Adrenaline coach stared at her. Jesse shook his head and sent a pleading look in Shelby's direction.

"I can't thank you enough Jesse," Shelby's eyes were locked firmly on Rachel now.

"Jesse, please, what is she talking about," Rachel was pleading with him now, but he couldn't find the words, this wasn't how he wanted her to discover the truth.

"I think you should tell her the truth Jesse, she wants to know," Shelby continued, Rachel took a step back and Jesse clasped her hands in his once more. He shook his head and gave her a soft look.

"I'm so sorry Rachel, I never meant for you to find out like this," Jesse said quietly, unable to meet her eyes.

"Find out what?" Rachel's feisty nature was becoming more apparent.

"Jesse's been working for me all this time," Rachel shook her head, refusing to believe it and stared at Jesse, who still couldn't meet her eyes, it was just too painful.

"Jesse, tell her the truth," Shelby snapped, he gulped and looked away.

"I planted the tape in that box, I wanted you to listen to it," he stated, Rachel gasped but was still unable to take any of this in.

"I don't understand, why would you do that to me?" she asked, Jesse turned to face her, the sadness etched across her face, it tore him apart seeing her like this.

"Shelby asked me to get to know you, she said once the time was right, then I should get you to listen to the tape," Rachel shook her head in disgust and snatched her hands from his grasp. Shelby watched on silently, she too hadn't embarked on the hurt that Rachel was experiencing now, but it had been fifteen years, fifteen long years without her daughter and after discovering that she was living so near, she had to get to get to know her. She knew the terms of her contract, but the contract never said that Rachel couldn't go searching for her, she was just moving this along a little quicker, and with Jesse's help she was able to do this.

"What sort of sick game are you playing?" Rachel snapped fighting back the desperate urge to cry, directing her rage at Shelby, leaving Jesse to stand back and watch the scene unfold before him.

"It's not what you think," Shelby tried to remain calm, this was the first conversation she'd ever had with her daughter and it couldn't be going worse. Rachel shot her a glare, and Shelby continued. "I needed Jesse to get close to you, I needed him to bring us together," Rachel froze as realization spread through her body like wild fire.

"No," Rachel said quietly, turning herself so she was able to face Jesse and Shelby.

"Hey baby," Shelby said calmly, Rachel shook her head and lashed out at Jesse, he stood there as she continued to his chest with her fists, it was nothing less than what he deserved for deceiving her.

"You used me!" she screamed, finally losing the battle with her tears, they streamed down her face. Jesse tried to comfort her, but she shrugged him of her.

"How could you do this to me?" she sobbed, "I thought you liked me, but the whole time you were working for her!"

"Rachel, please it's not like that," Jesse begged, Rachel turned on her heel and ran back towards her house.

"I never want to see you again!" she sobbed, as she ran up the steps. Jesse gave chase but he was too late, she slammed the door in his face. He clenched his fists and hit the door in frustration.

"Rachel!" he yelled, he turned and rested his head against the door. Everything had gone wrong, and now he'd lost her. As he contemplated what to do next he could hear Shelby crying at the foot of the garden, he looked at her like never before. He rolled his eyes and walked down the footpath, just inches away from her.

"I knew all of this would end in tears," he spat as he turned to walk away. Shelby watched him with tear filled eyes, her daughter had just discovered who she was and now she wanted nothing more to do with her. She'd imagined this day for so long now, but never had she imagined it to end so badly.

Rachel slammed her bedroom door shut, she'd trusted Jesse, she shared her most inner feelings with him, and for what? He'd been lying to her all this time, she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and noticed that the tape that had played before was still in her machine, in a fit of rage she ran towards it and ripped the tape from its player and began tearing it to shreds. She hated this feeling of self pity, but her life had been torn to pieces in a matter of seconds, for once she was going to wallow, and she couldn't think of anyone who would prevent her from doing so.


	2. Chapter 2

**First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has commented on this so far, especially after only one chapter. I was not expecting to have so many comments/favourite alerts. It really made me smile. I found this chapter difficult to write but I'm really pleased with how it has turned out. Just to give you the heads up now - Rachel will be interacting with a lot of characters in Glee, not just Finn and Jesse, as what we usually see in the show. I thought it would be interested for her to become more rounded, so that's what the story will be focussing on, as well as her on going battle with Jesse.**

**So yeah, thanks for reading and reviewing so far. It's a huge confidence boost, especially as it's my first Glee fiction, but I appreciate the feedback I have been given so far. So keep it coming. Anyway, that's enough of me talking, I know you only all want to read the fiction anyway. So here we go.**

**Oh yeah - The song used in this Chapter is 'Beform the Storm' as performed by the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus, it's a beautiful song and I feel it sums up the feelings of Jesse and Rachel in this chapter, so if you haven't heard it already, go and look it up, you'll see what I mean :)**

**Rachael xx**

Rachel was shadow of her former self the next day; she walked into school and was completely oblivious to everything that was going on around her. Her father's had already noted the change in her behaviour, of course she had to put on a brave face in front them, she didn't want them to have to experience the same kind of hurt that she was feeling right now. So she had decided to try and carry on as normal, as difficult as that may be. She was lucky in that because Jesse was senior, they didn't share any classes together, so at least she had some time to avoid him. She couldn't deal with the betrayal; it was that that had hurt her the most.

As the bell for lunch rang throughout the school, she followed the crowd and queued for her lunch, not that she was in any mood to eat, but it was the norm, and she was determined to act normally. The fewer questions asked the better. It was only when she had finished paying for her lunch that she finally caught sight of that familiar face. She gasped, and he just stood there, he gave her a sad smile, her frown softened but instead of saying anything she simply shook her head. He let out a deflated sigh and turned to walk away. It had taken all of her will power not to start crying there and then, but she'd shed all her tears for him last night, she wasn't going to let him have that effect on her anymore. Any feelings that she once had for him would have to be locked firmly away.

As she walked around the cafeteria in a daze, she found a table and sat down, not noticing that she wasn't alone. Slowly she began to eat, her thoughts constantly drifting back to the previous evening. She sighed and pushed away her tray.

"Hey Rachel," she lifted her gaze and finally noticed that friendly face that had been watching her like a hawk all day, unknown to her of course.

"Oh hi Finn" she said quietly.

"Are you okay? You've been quiet all day," he asked, the concern genuine in his voice, she nodded slowly and once again her eyes managed to find Jesse. Finn followed her eyes before staring at her again.

"It is something he's done?" Finn asked.

"I'm fine Finn, really," she stated, she stood up and walked away, unable to deal with Finn's questioning, all the time knowing that Jesse's eyes were burning into the back of her. She spent the rest of the day avoiding everyone; she knew that the less she saw of everyone, then the fewer questions she would have to answer. Of course people were going to talk about them, Jesse hadn't left her side since he had transferred, and now all of sudden they were not talking to each other.

As Rachel approached the music room, she sighed before walking inside, she knew that she wouldn't be able to avoid Jesse in here; she took a deep breath before pushing the door open and walking inside. _Be Strong Rachel!_ She told herself. Of course she was first to arrive, she always was, but that was to be accepted – she was club captain after all. She sat down at the back of the room, and waited for the others to arrive, although it wasn't long before her thoughts drifted back to the previous nights events. What sort of mother treats her daughter like that? It was just wrong. Rachel had never even thought about her mum before Jesse came into her life. So wrapped in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed Mr Schuster walk into the room.

"Hello Rachel, early again I see," he stared at her for moment when she didn't answer him, usually Rachel would bombard him with idea's she'd had to improve the club, but today she sat there in complete silence. In fact it unnerved him seeing his star singer like this. He didn't have time to dwell on the matter too much however when the rest of the club walked into the room. Artie and Tina were first arriving, taking a seat the furthest away from the door, followed by Mercedes and Kurt. Minutes later Puck arrived with Finn following after him, Finn glanced over in Rachel's direction and just sighed, she's avoided him all day, maybe it was best to leave her to her own thoughts for now, she'd talk to him when she was ready, she always did. Next to arrive were Quinn and Santana, as always they didn't even notice that Rachel was in the room, the least said about her the better in their opinion, Brittany walked in with Mike and Matt, taking their seats on the back row, they smiled slightly at a distanced Rachel, she returned a sad smile in their direction before shrinking back into her thoughts.

Mr Schuster checked his watch, and nodded, they were one person short, but they could start without him.

"Okay guys, now Regional's are in a few weeks, and we still need to work on our set list." There were few murmurs from the group, again surprisingly to him Rachel remained silent. "Now I know –"he was cut short as the door opened and Jesse walked into the room, Rachel turned to face him and again cut right through him with her sad eyes, he sighed as he apologised for being late and sat down on the front row, nearest the door. Mr Schuster nodded and continued to talk, but Rachel couldn't concentrate as her eyes constantly drifted to meet his. He smiled softly at her, but she turned away quickly.

"Rachel?" she jumped as she heard her name echo around the room, she blinked and noticed that all eyes were suddenly on her, Mr Schuster smiled and took pity on her.

"Does anyone have any suggestions on some song choices for Regional's" Rachel smiled gratefully at him, before deciding to focus on glee, after it was she all had left now.

"Come on guys," Mr Schuster was pleading with the glee kids now, it suddenly dawned on him that he'd depended on Rachel for so long now, that now he was finding it difficult to cope without her, even if she was a little annoying at times.

"I've got one," Mr Schuster let a sigh of relief and turned to face Jesse;

"That's great Jesse; let's see what you've got"

Jesse nodded and stood up and handed him a piece of music before walking in Rachel's direction, she watched him intently as he held out his hand to her. Understandably she refused to take it, he sighed and handed her the piece of music.

"Please, for the sake of the club," he whispered, he knew this was her weakness, she sighed and nodded before standing up and walking to the front of the room. Everyone clapped for them, they were Glee's power couple as far as duet's went, even if they didn't like them very much, there was no doubt that they performed well together. Rachel scanned through the song quickly, and shot Jesse a glare – he was trying to get at her through music – how dare he! The piano started playing in the background and Rachel took a deep breath, she was an actress, she'd perform the song and that would be the end of it, she'd performed with Finn before, even when they'd been arguing. But as Jesse started singing it all became too much for her

"_I know this isn't what I wanted,  
Never thought it'd come this far,  
Just thinking back to where we started  
and how we lost all that we are_

_We were young & times were easy,  
But I could see it's not the same.  
I'm standing here, but you don't see me,  
I'd give it all for that to change.  
And I don't want to lose her,  
I don't want to let her go."_

She opened her mouth, but she couldn't do it, she thought she could sing with him, but she couldn't, this song made him seem like the victim and that just wasn't right. She stared at her fellow glee clubbers and a wave of emotions washed over her, so she ran, unable to take any more of this. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Jesse as he watched her exit the room, the music was cut short and Jesse just sighed. Finn shot him a glare that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the club, if they weren't a reason for gossip then they certainly were now

"Well, thank you Jesse," Mr Schuster cleared his throat and broke the intense atmosphere that had been left behind as Rachel left the room.

Eventually Mr Schuster called Glee Club to an end, and everyone began to disperse on their own, their conversation still rife with what was going on between Jesse and Rachel. Brittany walked out with Mike and Matt and nudged them when she saw Rachel sitting in the parking lot alone. She quickly pulled the guys in Rachel's direction, as her curiosity got the better of her.

"Hey Rachel," she beamed; Rachel sniffed quietly and looked up at the smiling faces.

"Oh hi," she sniffed.

"Rachel, are you okay?" Mike asked, Rachel shrugged, and felt a little embarrassed that they were seeing her at her weakest point.

"I'm fine," she wiped her eyes and looked at them all properly, "Was Mr Schuster mad?" Again her concern for the group beat her concern for her own problems. Matt shrugged and took a seat next to Rachel.

"Not really, just a little stunned, we all were really," Rachel smiled at him, and felt a little more at ease around them, although they'd been singing together now for a while, they'd never really had a proper conversation before.

"I just had to get out of there," she admitted finally, "Did Jesse leave already?"

"Yeah, he was one of the first to go," Brittany added, "He didn't really say anything after you left though." That figures, Rachel thought bitterly to herself. Mike shot Brittany a look, telling her that it probably wasn't what Rachel wanted to hear right now. She smiled at Rachel who returned the smile.

"Thanks for coming to talk to me guys," Rachel said quietly as she stood up and brushed herself off.

"Are you going to be okay getting home," Matt asked her, she smiled, grateful for his concern and nodded.

"I only live 20 minutes away, I could do with the walk," Matt nodded and received a look from Brittany, who rolled her eyes at him.

"Rachel?" Rachel stopped and turned to face Mike who Brittany had pushed in front of her.

"We were heading to the Mall for a bit, you want to come with us? It might help to take your mind of things." Rachel was touched at their kindness, and frankly she needed the distraction, she'd spent the whole of last night crying over Jesse and Shelby and the deceit that she'd encountered thanks to them, and she didn't fancy repeated that experience any time soon. The less time she had to think about it, the better.

"I'd like that," she smiled, Brittany grinned and the four of them headed towards Mike's car.

As the evening progressed Rachel found herself relaxing in the company of her new friends – could she even call them her friends? Whatever they were, she was really enjoying her time with them, although this was a totally new experience for her. Brittany had completely surprised her, it seemed that the quiet blonde actually had a really nice side to her, but was often pushed aside to suit the needs of Quinn and Santana. She was also surprised at how easily she was getting along with the boys, they were not as confusing as Finn, they weren't as sarcastic as Noah, and they definitely were not like Jesse, and that was the most important thing to her.

"So how come you ran out of Glee?" Brittany asked as she and Rachel sat down, as the boys were waiting in line at the food court.

"Jesse and I, are just...we're just having some issues right now," Rachel explained, not wanting to go into detail, especially as she wasn't sure if she could trust Brittany yet.

"That's a shame, you two look cute together," Brittany added, Rachel smiled and desperately wanted to change the subject. She glanced at the boys waiting in the queue and then back at Brittany.

"So what's going on between you and Mike then?" Rachel asked, Brittany grinned and turned to wave at him before turning her attention back to Rachel.

"We've been seeing each other for a few weeks now, he's really sweet." Rachel grinned at Brittany's happiness as the boys suddenly approached them.

"Here you go," Matt placed a plate of fries in front of the girls and sat down in front of Rachel as Mike slid in front of Brittany.

"So are you feeling a little better now Rachel?" Mike asked, as he picked up his burger. Rachel nodded as she began nibbling on the fries in front of her. Gradually they slipped into a casual conversation, and Rachel realised how easy it was, she didn't have to be her usual bossy self around them, the four of them had just clicked and it had surprised Rachel more than anyone. Who would've thought that Rachel Berry would be hanging out at the mall with a Cheerio and two members of the football team?

"So do you two fancy heading over the arcade? It doesn't close for a while yet?" Mike suggested, Brittany glanced at Rachel who shrugged, before the four of them made their over to the arcade. Rachel had never stepped foot in a place like this before, as a child she was always been too busy attending her dance classes, or her vocal training sessions. It was because of these reasons that she hadn't had time for friends, it was only now that she was realising how much she had missed out on. She watched intently at the bond that the three of them had together, they were so comfortable in each other's company as they played the latest games. Matt noticed her watching them before clasping her hand and pulling her back into the group.

"You'll like this, it's a dance game," he grinned as he placed a coin into the machine; she smiled at him and noticed that Brittany was grinning at her.

"I've set it to easy, because it's your first time," she added, Rachel nodded as Mike and Matt began flicking through the song choices, before eventually picking one.

"Now just follow the arrows on the screen, you'll soon pick it up," Matt smiled encouragingly. Rachel nodded and focused on the screen in front of her. The music started playing, and Rachel jumped as she initially struggled to keep up with it, before eventually finding her rhythm. The song ended and of course Brittany had beaten her, Rachel frowned slightly as her competitive nature came to the surface.

"I've got the hang of it now, can we play again?" she asked,

"Sure," Brittany grinned, thrilled that she finally had someone to play this game with.

"Okay, this time I'll play the winner," Mike grinned as he placed another coin in the machine, Rachel focused her eyes onto the machine as Matt selected the song, a little faster than before but still on the easiest level. This time when the music started she was ready for it and found herself hitting every arrow that came her way. When it finally cut out she glanced at the score and noticed that she'd managed to beat Brittany although the scores were remarkably close. Rachel grinned and jumped up and down, hugging Matt as she did so. She pulled away and high fived him, she turned to face Brittany and grinned at her.

"Good job Rachel!" Brittany beamed as she swapped places with Mike.

"Ready for me to show you how it's done?" Mike grinned as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Bring it," she giggled, and once again the music started and Rachel found herself jumping in time with it once more. Of course Mike had beaten her, but it was common knowledge that he was an incredible dancer; even Rachel was willing to accept that. She gracefully admitted defeat and the four of them headed over the claw game, Rachel opened her purse and attempted to win one of the fluffy animals, she was doing quite well into it jerked and dropped the small pink bear on the end. She sighed and turned to face the others, next it was Matt's turn to show Rachel how it was done, she watched as like her he directed the claw towards the same pink bear that she'd attempted to retrieve. He picked it up and carefully directed the claw back to the drop of zone. Rachel rolled her eyes but smiled as he bent down to pick it up.

"Here," he smiled handing it over to her.

"But it's yours," Rachel protested, as he pushed it unto her hands

"You wanted it after all," he smiled, "Just take it Rachel,"

"Thank Matt," she smiled as the four of them walked out of the arcade, Rachel now holding the small pink bear in her arms.

They hadn't realised how long they had spent in the arcade, until they heard the different stores around them closing, so they all headed back to Mike's car, ready to head home.

"Thanks for cheering me up," Rachel smiled as she and Matt sat in the back of the car, he shrugged and smiled at her.

"No one wants to see a girl cry," he smiled, she nodded and the car was soon filled with conversation once more. It was only when they arrived at Rachel's house that the mood in the car changed.

"Thanks for the ride Mike," Rachel smiled as she unfastened her seat belt.

"No problem," Mike smiled as he turned to face her.

"I'll see you guys at school tomorrow, hopefully Mr Schuster won't be too angry with me," she laughed, the others smiled and Brittany turned to face Rachel.

"You know you're a lot of fun when you're not being so bossy," she smiled, Rachel blushed and nodded, she was really trying to contain her bossy mannerisms, but it was difficult. But if losing them meant she would gain some friends, then she'd definitely try to keep them under control.

"Thanks Brittany," Rachel smiled, it was only when Matt gently nudged her side that her evening took a sour turn.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, "I can walk you to your door if you'd like," Rachel was touched by his concern but shook her head and placed her hand on her arm.

"I'll be fine Matt, but thank you," he nodded and watched as Rachel stepped out of the car. She closed the door behind her, before waving her friends goodbye. She watched the car drive away before taking a deep breath and walking towards her house. She stopped when she reached the porch and simply let out a deflated sigh.

"Jesse, what are you doing here?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Again a massive thank you to everyone who has read this so far, and an even bigger thank you everyone who has commented on this and added it to their favourites. It really means a lot to me, you have no idea. A small note - I'm aware that at the moment, the mood in this is quite sad and depressing, but I promise you that the mood will change and Rachel will begin to be happy again, but of course she's not going to get over it over night!**

**So again, a HUGE thank you to everyone reading this, I didn't expect it when I first posted it, but I'm so grateful to every single one of you. So keep the comments coming and let me know what you're thinking, I take all comments on board when writing.**

Hope you enjoy the chapter

**Rachael xx**

Rachel eyed Jesse as he leant against the door frame, her eyes locked on his, she sighed quietly. His eyes used to be so beautiful to her, full of passion and emotion, now they were just – empty.

"Jesse, what are you doing here?" she asked, breaking the silence between them.

"I needed to talk to you," he stated calmly, Rachel shook her head and sat on the porch swing, as far away from him as possible.

"I told you I never wanted to see you again," she said quietly, "What part of that didn't you understand?" Jesse shook his head and took a few steps closer to her, it was only when he reached the swing that she gave him a warning stare, nodding he stepped back and leant against the piece of fencing that surrounded the porch.

"You don't mean that," he said shaking his head, he wasn't speaking to her directly at this point, instead his eyes had focused on his feet.

"You're a wise one to talk," Rachel snapped, her attitude unnerved Jesse slightly, he'd always known that she was a feisty young woman, but he'd never seen her full of so much hate and disgust before, it just wasn't her. The pair fell into silence again, Rachel wanted to go inside – hell she could've if she'd really wanted to – but a part of wanted to hear Jesse out, she wanted to know what exactly had lead him to deceive her so much. She managed to steal a glance at Jesse, his eyes still firmly focussed on the ground. She sighed and clutched her purse in her hand tightly, she couldn't believe how her evening had been turned upside down, she'd had so much fun with Brittany and the boys, she actually felt liked she belonged, yet here she was sitting on her own porch swing, outside her own house and she felt like a stranger – Jesse had done this to her. She'd always been able to accept herself for who she was before she met him, now her life had been turned upside down and she blamed him for that. Silently she stood up and approached her front door; her hand hovered over the door handle until she heard a quiet gentle voice from behind her.

"I never wanted to hurt you, Rachel," She dropped her hand and closed her eyes inhaling deeply as she did so,

"I just want to know why you did it," she sighed turning to face him once more, Jesse gave her an understanding smile.

"I told you that the first time I saw you was your Sectional competition, remember?" Rachel nodded "I was there with Shelby," Rachel winced at the sound of this name, but Jesse decided to continue whilst he was a roll.

"We were there to check out the competition for Regional's, she thought it would be worthwhile for us." Jesse clammed up and Rachel lifted her eyes to meet his again once more, a silent understanding between the pair, she wanted to know the truth, and he knew she deserved that from him at least.

"I understand your reasoning, I would've have done the same," Rachel admitted a small smile creeping across her face, as she remembered her trips to see Vocal Adrenaline perform in the past, before she had even met Jesse. "I just don't understand why you used me,"

"Shelby asked me to help her, she told me that you were her daughter but she wasn't able to contact you until you were eighteen, and then it would have to be your decision," Rachel rolled her eyes, the diva in her coming to the surface.

"But it wasn't my decision to find her Jesse, you manipulated me," Jesse shook his head

"You were the one who said your mum was missing from your life!"

"And you planted the tape in with my belongings!" Rachel shrieked, her small frame squaring up to him. Again the pair stood in an angry silence, the tension rising between them. Now usually Rachel would love this sort of tension, it enabled her experiences as an actress, she was able to draw on these experiences in the future and make her performances stronger, but this was one experience that she didn't want to have to remember. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, the only sounds that could be heard was their breathing. Rachel couldn't help wishing that she'd actually let Matt walk her to her door when he'd offered, maybe she would've been able to escape all of this.

"I know you don't believe me Rachel, I really care about you," Jesse slowly moved to sit down on the porch swing, whilst Rachel watched him. He placed his head in his hands and sighed loudly.

"Jesse..." Rachel closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she sat next to him on the swing, taking care not to sit too close to him. "Jesse, what was she doing here last night?"

"I didn't know she was going to be here, I felt terrible when I left you," he sighed, his eyes searching for hers.

"Why was she shouting at you," Rachel asked tenderly, Jesse half smiled and rested his head on the back of the swing.

"I told her I wasn't going back to Vocal Adrenaline, I told her I wanted nothing more to do with her plan," he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, "I was...I was coming to tell you the truth" Rachel nodded and gently reached out and patted his knee, he lifted his head and smiled at her.

"You weren't supposed to hear us shouting, and once she'd told you, you wouldn't even listen to me," Rachel quickly withdrew her hand and glared at him, she couldn't believe she'd actually started to pity him.

"How dare you," she whispered, as she stood up, "How dare you blame this on me!"

"Rachel?" he stood up and reached his hand out to her, she pushed it away and shook her head vigorously.

"I can't believe I was so stupid!" she shrieked, "Everyone warned me about you, they said that you were up to no good, but I wouldn't believe them."

"Rachel, please!" he begged, "I'm still the same guy, I came back to you after you played that ridiculous stunt with the 'Run Joey Run' video."

"You didn't come back for me; you came back because she asked you to!" Rachel spat as she quickly made her way to her door.

"Rachel, don't do this," he begged, she shook her head and sighed.

"Just go away Jesse, go back to Vocal Adrenaline, I'm sure she'll accept you back with open arms,"

"I don't want to go back to Vocal Adrenaline, I want to stay here, with you," Rachel sighed and looked at him for one last time.

"Well guess what, Jesse. I don't want you here," With that she opened the door and ran inside, making sure to slam the door in his face.

Rachel spent the rest of the evening in her room; her dads were very concerned by their daughter's sudden change in behaviour. She'd been so happy recently, what with her Glee Club's victory at Sectional's and then embarking on a relationship with Jesse. She was the happiest she'd been in such a long time, yet now they didn't know who she was any more. They'd called her for dinner, but when she failed to show, they decided that it was time that they intervened. They knocked on her door quietly, with a faint 'come in' they walked in, stunned to see Rachel lay face down on her bed.

"Rachel, honey. Are you okay?" her dad asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed. She turned over to face them and nodded.

"I'm fine dad," she lied.

"Has this got anything to do with Jesse?" Rachel shrugged and buried her head deeper into her pillow.

"You know, all couples fight. I'm sure you'll work it out with him." Rachel nodded and closed her eyes again.

"Thank you," she sighed, "If you don't mind, I'd like to be on my own now," her father's nodded and exited the room quickly, leaving their only daughter to wallow in her own problems.

The next morning, Rachel jumped as the sound of her alarm filled her room, she groaned inwardly before pulling herself out of bed ready for her morning workout. She began to smile as she gradually began to wake up, today was a whole new day, and she was going to enjoy it. As she pedalled on her exercise bike, she noticed the poster that she had pinned in front of it. _'Win Regional's'_ she nodded to herself, she had hundreds of different idea's that would enable the Glee Club to secure a victory at Regional's. Yesterday had been a blip; she'd soon show Mr Schuster that she was back and ready for action. She got showered and sat down for some breakfast with her dad's before heading out to school.

Again, it was the same as any other morning; she walked towards her locker unnoticed by the rest of the school's population. But that didn't bother her, she'd become used to that over the years now. They were only jealous of her talent anyway. As she opened her locker, she noticed the photo of Jesse taped on the inside; silently she ripped it down and screwed it up into a small ball, smiling as she did so. She closed the door and headed through the busy corridors towards the music room, hopefully if she was there early enough then she could speak to Mr Schuster privately without being interrupted by the other members.

She lingered outside the music room for a moment, before taking a deep breath and walking inside. Mr Schuster lifted his head instantly and smiled at her; she gave him a polite smile and took a seat in front of him.

"Mr Schuster, I'd like a word please," he nodded and stopped what he doing, giving her his full attention.

"What seems to be the problem Rachel?"

"I'd like to apologise for leaving so rudely yesterday, as you know I'm very dedicated to the success of this Glee Club, but I was dealing with some personal problems yesterday, and I'm afraid to say that I let them get in the way of the rehearsal." She paused for a moment, for dramatic effect of course, "I assure you that it will not happen again," Mr Schuster nodded and placed his hands on the desk in front of him. Rachel bit her lip anxiously as she waited for his response.

"It's fine, Rachel," he smiled, "Don't worry about it," Rachel let out a sigh of relief and Mr Schuster smiled at her.

"Now about Regional's..." Mr Schuster rolled his eyes but was secretly pleased to have his star performer back on track. They couldn't afford anymore hiccups on the way to Regional's. It wasn't long before the rest of the Glee Club had arrived, and Rachel took her seat at the back of the room again. As usual Artie and Tina walked in, sitting on the front row, Quinn and Santana were next followed by Mercedes and Kurt. As usual they ignored her, not that it really matured much anyway. Puck and Finn walked in next, Finn smiled in Rachel's direction, and she gave him a polite wave as he took a seat next to Tina and Artie. It was only when Rachel noticed Brittany walk in with Mike and Matt that she sat up and paid attention.

"Hey Rachel," Rachel blinked when she realised that Brittany was walking in her direction, with Mike and Matt following her. Matt took the seat closest to her, as Brittany and Mike sat on the row in front, before turning to face her.

"So how are you feeling today?" Brittany asked and Rachel shrugged.

"Much better thanks,"

"Well, we're going to the movies tonight, if you'd like to come with us," Matt suggested, Brittany and Mike exchanged glances and Matt rolled his eyes.

"Ignore them," he laughed,

"I'd like that," Rachel smiled, thrilled at the prospect of spending the second night in row out with her friends.

The four of them eased into conversation, as they waited for Mr Schuster to start the session, again a new experience for her as usually she'd be the one sitting alone in the corner whilst everyone else had their own conversations. Their new found friendship didn't go unnoticed by the other members of the club, especially Jesse. He'd walked into the music room, expecting to see Rachel sitting alone as usual, but when he arrived he was stunned to see her in full conversation with Mike, Matt and Brittany. Rachel happened to lift her head and stared at him for a minute, the room fell silent as they watched to see the latest drama between the pair unfold. Picking up on the tension, Matt cleared his throat.

"You left this in Mike's car last night," Matt said as he picked up the small pink bear that he'd won for her the night before. Jesse's eyes widened as did Finn's as Rachel blushed and turned her attention back to Matt.

"Thank you, I wondered what had happened to that." she beamed as she held the bear in her hand. Jesse sighed and chose a seat nearest to the door. Mr Schuster sighed quietly, as he watched the two teens, if they couldn't even talk to each other, then how were they going to perform on stage together?

"Okay guys. Your assignment for this week, I want to you split into groups, and between you you're going to work on a number that could be used for Regional's, then on Friday, you'll perform it and I'll decide the winner," The room was filled with excitement as everyone instantly began expressing their ideas, discussing various costumes and music. Mr Schuster, nodded considerably pleased with himself, they'd proved themselves at Sectional's for choreographing their own numbers, maybe they'd come up with something better for Regional's. Rachel glanced around the room as everyone began splitting into groups – of course Artie and Tina paired up with Mercedes and Kurt – she bit her lip anxiously as she began to wonder who she'd be working with or would she going to be left to deal with this on her own again.

"So what number do you want to do?" Brittany asked,

"Who me?" Rachel replied desperate not to seem too eager.

"Well, yeah you are going to work with us right?" Mike asked, Rachel nodded and desperately fought the urge not to let out an excited squeal

"Great, we can talk about it tonight," Brittany grinned as Finn approached them.

"Do you mind if I join you guys?" he asked. Rachel shrugged and the others agreed.

"Great!" Brittany grinned; Rachel smiled but couldn't help glancing in Jesse's direction, wondering who he'd be working with.

"Okay, groups?" Mr Schuster asked, silencing the group again. Rachel announced her group, as did Mercedes. Then all eyes fell onto the remaining four members of the group.

"I take it you'll all be working together?" Mr Schuster asked, Jesse sighed as everyone stared at him.

"Actually Mr Schue, I think I'd like to work on my own on this one, if that's okay?"

"Umm, yeah sure Jesse, and you three? Are you working together?"

"Yeah, I guess," Puck answered on behalf of the group. Mr Schuster noted the group on the piece of paper he was holding.

"Great, now we'll meet again on Friday, if you need any advice between now and then, you know where to find me. Good luck!" The sound of the bell filled the room and everyone gathered their belongings ready for their next class.


	4. Chapter 4

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**Wow I can't believe we're on chapter Four already. You guys are awesome for reading this and leaving your comments, I still can't believe how many of you have added this to your favourites, that's incredible, so Thank You :)  
Anyway, this chapter is happier than the others, it took me a while to write it, but I'm quite pleased with the end result, as always please leave me your thoughts, as I love reading them.**

**A/N - I'm going on holiday for a week, so I won't have any access to the internet until the end of next week (Sorry!) but please stick with this, as I definatley won't be abandoning this, as I love writing it so much. There should be another chapter posted by the end of the week, so until then enjoy!**

Mr Schuster's Spanish class was always a rowdy environment, everyone knew how generous he was, he wasn't an ordinary teacher, he believed that his students should be allowed their own freedom for learning, sure he wasn't a push over, he made sure that the work got done, but he wasn't as strict as the average teachers. He had a common understanding with his students, and they accepted that.

As Rachel flicked through her textbook, she noticed Finn's eyes on her; she placed the book flat on the table and turned to face her.

"Finn?" Finn jumped and blushed as she spoke his name.

"What's going on between you and Jesse?" Rachel rolled her eyes and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"I really don't want to talk about it Finn," she mumbled as she began flicking through her book again, Finn nodded as he mimicked her actions. They worked in silence for a while as the rest of the class continued with their conversations.

"So you and Matt huh?" he asked, trying to hide the jealousy in his voice, Rachel lifted her head and allowed a sneaky smile to escape her lips. She knew that Finn was jealous of her relationship with Jesse; he'd made no effort to hide that fact from her, so it came as no surprise to her that he was jealous of her talking to Matt.

"There's nothing going on there Finn," she grinned,

"I saw the bear Rachel,"

"Yes, Brittany came to see if I was okay last night, Mike and Matt were with her, and they invited me to the Mall with them," Finn nodded as he tried to register everything that she had said to him.

"Have you got any ideas for the Glee assignment?" Finn asked, deciding to change the subject for good.

"Do you even need to ask?" Rachel grinned as she scribbled some notes onto her page, noticing that Mr Schuster was making his way around the classroom.

"What do you think we should do?" Finn continued, Rachel rolled her eyes and pushed his textbook closer to him.

"Later Finn," she hissed as Mr Schuster approached to them.

"We need to do something big if we want to beat Vocal Adrenaline," Finn half laughed before noticing that Mr Schuster was stood in front of him. Finn's smile faded slightly as Mr Schuster picked up Finn's work; he gave him a disappointed sigh before placing it down on the desk.

"Finn, you really need to start applying yourself in class," Finn nodded, hating the disappointed look in his favourite teacher's eye.

"Sorry Mr Schue," he mumbled, Mr Schuster nodded and picked up Rachel's work, Finn glanced at her as she sat comfortably in her seat.

"Very impressive Rachel," he smiled, placing Rachel's work back onto the table, Rachel beamed at him as he walked away, and Finn simply stared at her, mouth open.

"How do you that?" he asked.

"Do what?" Rachel asked innocently, Finn rolled his eyes and gestured towards Rachel's 'impressive' piece of work, she blushed and shrugged.

"I'm able to multitask Finn," she grinned, "It's an important quality in stars," Finn nodded and grinned as the sound of bell filled the classroom. He threw his books into his bag quickly before turning to face Rachel again, who was taking a little more care as she loaded her bag ready for her next lesson. The pair of them walked to the front of the classroom, handed Mr Schuster their work, Rachel the more eager of the pair before heading out to their lockers.

"I'm just going to place a few books in my locker," Rachel announced, Finn nodded and turned to follow her.

"Finn, it's okay. I'll meet you in the cafeteria," he deflated a little before nodding and walking off in the opposite direction. She was finally beginning to feel like the old Rachel again, and she loved it, she walked with a spring in her step, her mind full of performance idea's that she simply couldn't wait to share with the rest of her group. She opened her locker and began placing her school books inside, her hand then fell onto her pink bear, and she held it in her hands for a moment and smiled.

"Cute bear," Rachel jumped and turned around.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I miss you Rachel," she rolled her eyes and placed the bear into her locker.

"Jesse, don't do this here," she whispered.

"I thought we had something special,"

"So did I," Rachel mumbled, turning her back on him and closing the locker.

"We still could have," he said lowering his face to meet hers, she felt shivers as his breath touched his skin, she closed her eyes for a second and briefly surrendered to his spell. Jesse smiled at her as she opened her eyes slowly.

"I...I've got to go," she stuttered, Jesse nodded and stood up, giving her space.

"Until next time," he whispered.

"Goodbye Jesse," Rachel mumbled as she darted down the corridors, desperate to get away from him. Jesse watched as she ran, through the corridors before taking a deep breath and walking away in the opposite direction.

"Looks like there is trouble in paradise," Quinn stated as she stood by her locker, she'd been watching Rachel and Jesse interact as she waited for Santana to fix her makeup. Santana looked away from the mirror momentarily and raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"Rachel and Jesse, what do you think is going between them?" Quinn asked, Santana shrugged and turned her attention back to her reflection. Quinn bit her lip momentarily as she watched Jesse walk away. She'd been suspicious of him ever since he'd joined New Directions; everyone claimed that he was a spy, only allowing him to join with the persuasion of Mr Schuster. But there was no denying how happy Rachel had been since his arrival at the school. Quinn just found it weird at their sudden change in behaviour.

"Come on, let's go to lunch, I want a burger," Santana announced as she closed her locker, Quinn sighed quietly as she walked away with her friend. Quinn had changed a lot since discovering that she was pregnant, sure she missed the Cheerio's, but she had also found a whole new life with New Directions, she could be herself and was accepted for it. They'd all been there for her when the truth was revealed, and Quinn couldn't have been more grateful to them. Rachel had been there for her, sure she was annoying – everyone admitted that – but Rachel had convinced her to return to Glee when everyone else had shunned her, they had a mutual agreement now, they were not the best of friends but the rivalry between then had subsided, which suited both girls perfectly. As the girls entered the cafeteria they noticed the majority of the Glee Club sat together in the far corner, Quinn smiled to herself as she paid for her lunch and headed over to them. Puck smiled and pulled a chair out for her; she gave him a polite smile and sat down.

"So what's going on?" Quinn asked, Mercedes grinned and leant forward.

"We were just discussing the drama between Rachel and Jesse," Quinn nodded and began nibbling at her lunch.

"What do you think is going on with them?" Kurt asked.

"Who cares," Santana shrugged.

"Maybe we should do some investigating of our own," Quinn suggested, "After all, I doubt if Rachel is going to tell us anything."

There were murmurs across the table, Rachel was one of them, granted they didn't always want to accept that, but she was nonetheless. Jesse, he was new to the group and had never been totally trusted. This definitely needed to be investigated; they did not want to risk the drama that they'd been faced with at Sectional's. They'd vowed to never suffer that sort of humiliation again.

"Maybe we should trail him," Santana suggested, silencing the group. Everyone turned to face her and she simply shrugged.

"Is that really necessary?" Finn asked, as Santana shrugged.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Quinn admitted.

"So we're really doing this?" Puck asked, Quinn and Santana shared and grin and nodded.

"We're so doing this," Everyone gathered around ready to receive their orders, for the evening that followed.

Rachel checked her reflection in the mirror one final time as she waited for her friends to arrive, she'd decided to wear something a little more casual this evening, she'd always been chastised for her dress sense, but she had friends now and she was desperate to hold onto them. She heard a car pull up outside before grabbing her purse and running outside.

"Hey Rachel!" Brittany grinned as she opened the car door.

"Hey guys," she squeezed into the car and Mike set of to the movie theatre.

"I love your shirt," Brittany grinned, Rachel smiled as she silently praised her decision to ditch the animal jumper for the evening.

"Thank you," she beamed. Mike turned the radio up and the four of them began singing loudly along with the music, Rachel suddenly realised that they all good voices, she'd been that used to them singing back up that she hadn't actually spent time listening to their voices individually. She'd have to reconsider that when they worked on their Glee assignment.

"So what movie shall we see?" Matt asked as they walked inside.

"Not another Chick-flick please," Mike protested, Brittany groaned loudly

"He's only saying that because he cried at the last chick-flick we watched together," Matt laughed, Rachel giggled as Brittany linked arms with her.

"What film do you want to see Rachel?" she asked.

"I...I don't know," she admitted, the boys nodded.

"I tell you what, why don't we surprise you both?" they suggested, Brittany nodded and Rachel agreed, she opened her purse and handed Matt some money.

"That's for my ticket," she stated, Matt and Mike shook their heads.

"We invited you, remember," Rachel nodded and placed her money back into her purse. Brittany giggled and pulled Rachel in the direction of the ladies bathroom, Rachel watched as Brittany stood in front of the mirror, fixing her hair in a variety of different styles. It suddenly dawned on her that she had rarely seen her without her hair being pulled back tightly.

"What do you think Rachel?" Brittany asked,

"Erm..." Brittany giggled at her.

"Up or down?" she asked again, Rachel giggled nervously

"Definitely down," Rachel giggled as Brittany quickly ran a comb through her wavy blonde hair.

As the girls left the bathroom, Rachel noticed the boys stood waiting for them, loaded with popcorn and other assorted confectionary items. Again Rachel offered to pay and once again the boys told her no. Rachel sighed as once again she placed her money back into her purse. Brittany giggled and linked arms with her once again and followed the boys into their designated screen.

"You've got so much to learn," she whispered, Rachel giggled and silently agreed with her.

"I knew he was up to know good," Quinn hissed as she crept into the Vocal Adrenaline rehearsal, followed by Santana and Mercedes. They took a seat in the auditorium and watched as Jesse stood at the edge of the stage.

"What is he doing?" Mercedes asked, Santana shrugged as all three girls kept their eyes locked firmly on him. They crouched in their seats, they knew that if they were caught spying then Mr Schuster would never forgive them, not that he'd understand their intentions anyway. He was one of those teachers that always sought out the good in everyone, not always a good thing when you were dealing with the enemy. Quinn waved at them to be quiet as voices started travelling from the stage.

"What do you want Shelby?" Jesse asked,

"Everyone has started asking about you, they want to know when you're coming back," Shelby stated. Quinn frowned and Santana and Mercedes exchanged glances.

"After everything that's happened?" Jesse snapped.

"Come on Jesse, you need Vocal Adrenaline, Vocal Adrenaline need you!" Shelby desperately tried to convince him, as the girls rolled their eyes.

"Not anymore," Jesse snapped, turning to walk away.

"Jesse! Jesse, is this about what happened the other night?" Jesse froze and retraced his steps, standing inches away from Shelby.

"You have no idea do you, she's heartbroken Shelby, we did that to her!" Jesse was shouting now.

"You were never meant to get romantically involved with her Jesse! That wasn't part of the plan!" Quinn glanced at her friends, the pair of them giving her the same worried stare.

"Don't you think I know that?" Jesse raged "But at least I took an interest in her,"

Shelby dropped her gaze and momentarily lost her composure, she'd never seen Jesse so angry before, she knew that he was overly dramatic at times, but this was a whole new experience for her.

"What was I meant to do?" she asked.

"She's your daughter Shelby, you could've tried to get to know her a little, instead of forcing all of this on her, now we've both lost her!" Jesse stormed off the stage and Shelby ran after him, screaming his name.

"Oh my god," Mercedes mouthed, turning to face the others.

"No way," Quinn mumbled as the others sat there, shell shocked, "No freaking way!" The girls stood up quickly and headed out of the auditorium, they had to let the others know before all of this spiralled out of control.

Rachael x


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it's been a while since the last update, I went on holiday for a few days, and then when I came back I really struggled with this chapter. Anyway, thanks again for all of the reviews and alerts, as always it means a lot to me. This chapter has been written and rewritten about 5 or 6 different times, but I like the way this one has turned out, even if it was different to what I had planned, but it enables me to move the story on now. I'd just like to apologise for the sadness in the chapter - I know I promised you that things will get happier, but I thought this fitted the situation so I had to put it in. But I promise, it's not all going to be doom and gloom in this fic. But how great was 'Funk' sad that Jesse and Rachel had to end like that :( but I loved the episode anyway. Especially the last song. Can't believe we're almost at the end of season 1. It's come around to quickly. I'll be sad when it all ends, but at least we have fanfiction until season 2. :D**

**So thanks again for sticking with this, I really hope you like the chapter. Please leave me some reviews to let me know what you think, was it the right thing to do? I love reading your replies. **

Rachel walked into school the next day with a whole new lease of life, once she'd gotten home last night she'd set to work on the Glee assignment for the week, she'd found a song that was brilliant for how she'd been feeling the last few days, but also something that her group could interject some energy into. She opened up her locker and placed a selection of her books inside, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror and smiled at what she saw – today was going to be a good day. However, she jumped suddenly when her locker was slammed shut, she frowned and sighed when she noticed the majority of the Glee Club staring at her.

"Hi everyone," she mumbled nervously.

"Are you going to tell us what's going on between you and Jesse?" Mercedes asked, Rachel blinked and shook her head.

"It's nothing, everything's fine," Rachel attempted to push past them and head towards the choir room.

"We were at Vocal Adrenaline's rehearsal yesterday – we know the truth!" Rachel froze and quickly back tracked her steps.

"I'll explain everything, but not here," she insisted, everyone glanced in Quinn's direction who nodded slowly. Rachel sighed and led them towards the choir room; she was stunned when she saw Mr Schuster sat inside. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open, she walked inside silently, and Mr Schuster lifted his head and watched as the entire Glee Club walked inside.

"Hey guys," he grinned, before taking in their anxious looking faces, "What's going on?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Matt added, as he gestured between himself, Mike and Brittany.

"It seems Rachel has something to tell us," Mercedes stated, Mr Schuster glanced nervously at Rachel who was leaning on the piano in the room, as everyone else took their seats. Mr Schuster pulled up a stool and sat with the kids. The room fell silent as everyone waited for Rachel, she bit her lip and glanced around the room. Finn gave her a supportive smile, as did Mike and Matt. Brittany however was sat on the back of the room, staring vaguely into the air, every now and then she'd wave at Rachel, who resisted the urge to giggle at her friend.

"Okay, seriously, someone needs to tell me what's going on." Mr Schuster stated, breaking the silence in the room. Quinn sighed and gave Rachel and small, barely noticeable smile.

"We were spying on Vocal Adrenaline yesterday," she mumbled, Mr Schuster rolled his eyes.

"Guys, how many times do I have to tell you, we don't need to spy on them? You're just as good as they are!" Quinn rolled her eyes as she watched her teacher go into yet another rant about keeping an even playing field.

"It's not what you think Mr Schue," she interrupted, "We were actually looking out for Rachel," Rachel lifted her head and glanced at the former cheerleader in confusion.

"Yeah, we knew something wasn't right between you and Jesse, and since you wouldn't tell us, we thought we'd do a little investigating of our own," Finn grinned, Rachel smiled gratefully at her friends.

"So what did you find out," Mr Schuster asked, the room fell silent again and Quinn took it upon herself to become the leader once again.

"Well..." she glanced at Rachel who smiled softly at her.

"It's okay Quinn," she smiled, "I'll take it from here," Quinn nodded as Rachel took a deep breath.

"As you're all aware, Jesse and me are no longer an item," Rachel started, "It appears that you were right about him," Mr Schuster stared at her, as she took another deep breath, this was the first time she'd spoken about Jesse and Shelby, even her dad's weren't aware of what was going on in her life.

"It seems Jesse was here for a purpose, he was sent for something," Mr Schuster jumped to his feet, rage building in his body.

"I'm not going to stand by and let this happen to us again!" he snapped.

"Mr Schue, it's not what you think," Finn shouted

"Just let her finish Mr Schue," Quinn pleaded, Mr Schuster took a deep breath and glanced in Rachel's direction, he gave her a faint smile and nodded.

"He was here for a purpose, but it wasn't to spy on the club." Rachel bit her lip again, "At least I don't think he was." Rachel continued to battle with her tears, and suddenly it became clear how much everyone actually cared for her. They watched her intently, exchanging nervously glances with each other. Finn stood up again and walked over to Rachel's side, followed by Matt and Mike, whilst Brittany pushed herself to the front and hugged Rachel tightly, as she started crying. Gradually everyone stood up and made their way over to Rachel, joining in with the group hug. Mr Schuster sighed and slowly headed towards the group as Quinn turned to face him.

"Mr Schuster," she whispered, "Miss Cocoran, she's Rachel's mum. She sent Jesse here to get to know her," Mr Schuster shook his head and slowly ran his hand through his hair, unable to take in the news; Quinn nodded and joined the group hug.

The room was silent for a while; Mr Schuster watched as New Directions finally came together as a team, this was what he'd been trying to get them to do since day one, now it seemed that they needed something big to finally pull them together.

"I just want to let you all know that this is not going to affect me at Regional's," Rachel said quietly, as the group eventually pulled away from her and returned to their seats, Rachel sat in the middle of them.

"Rachel, we understand if you want to get to know her. She's your mother after all, and we won't stop you from seeing her," Mr Schuster said calmly.

"I don't want to get to know her, as far as I'm concerned nothing has changed, I've got two gay dads, and they're more than enough for me," Everyone smiled and nodded at her. Whether they liked it or not, they were like a family now, they needed each other more than they had ever imagined. They had to stick together, they'd been through so much together, and this was only the beginning.

Gradually everyone returned to their seats, with Rachel at the centre of the group. She smiled as Brittany linked arms with her, whilst Finn sat on her right. New Directions were her family, even if they didn't always see eye to eye – but honestly, what family did get along all of the time?

"Okay guys, how are the assignments going?" Mr Schuster asked, everyone could tell that he was trying to lift the atmosphere in the room, to which Rachel was grateful for. Straight away Mercedes and Kurt delved into their group's plans, with Tina and Artie joining in whenever they could. Kurt was talking animatedly about his costume designs that he was working on, whilst Mercedes reeled off a list of songs that the group were considering using for the assignment.

"That sounds great, I look forward to seeing it in action," Mr Schuster smiled; Kurt gave Mercedes one of their mini hand touches as the door slowly opened. The room fell silent as Jesse walked inside, Rachel met his eyes and gave him and faint smile.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Jesse said clearly, Finn and Puck jumped to their feet, staring him out as they did so.

"You're not welcome here St James," Puck growled. Jesse stared at them and glanced nervously at Rachel who shook her head.

"Why don't you crawl back to Vocal Adrenaline?" Finn asked,

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jesse mumbled, taking a knowing guess that Rachel had decided to share their business with her so called friends.

"Rachel is one of us!" Finn snapped.

"When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" Puck added, stunning Rachel slightly with his defensive nature of her. Jesse rolled his eyes as murmurs of agreement filled the room.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Jesse stated, as he attempted to move past them.

"I've already told you, you're not welcome here," Puck growled, grabbing him by the collar, at this point, Mr Schuster was on his feet and heading towards the three young men.

"That's enough Puck," he stated, calmly placing a hand on his shoulder, Puck reluctantly let go, and Jesse straightened out his jacket as he searched for Rachel's eyes once more. Silently he pleaded with her to hear him out, but instead she closed her tear filled eyes and shook her head.

"I don't want to cause any trouble," Jesse was whispering to the floor now, as Mr Schuster sighed, he glanced around at his students, noting the fierce expressions on their faces, his eyes then focussed on Rachel, clearly distressed by the situation and it suddenly became clear what he had to do.

"Jesse, maybe this isn't the best time," he said quietly, "Come see me in my office later, and we'll discuss this further," Jesse sighed and nodded.

The room fell silent once more, for the first time since he could remember Jesse had the spot light on him, and didn't like it. He glanced around the room and met Rachel's eyes; she gave him a sad smile before dropping her eyes to the floor so he took this as his sign to leave, he turned around and headed out of the door. Puck and Finn high fived each other whilst Rachel watched on, it took all of her strength and will power not to follow him. Brittany squeezed her hand gently, whilst Quinn turned to face her, giving her a strong look. Puck and Finn returned to their seats and Mr Schuster took a deep breath before turning to face the kids. He was furious, he'd warned Shelby against using Jesse to get at Rachel, and that was exactly what they had done. He was so sure that Jesse was to be trusted, after all the protests he'd received when Jesse had transferred to McKinley. He'd told the kids to give Jesse a chance, and yet again they were right about something. He had so much to learn, and he was supposed to be the adult here.

"Okay, now does anyone else have anything to share?" he asked, glancing around the room, one again hoping to lift the mood. His eyes landed on Rachel, who looked like her mind was elsewhere.

"Rachel? I'm sure your group have been working on something." Mike and Matt exchanged glances with Brittany, who shrugged and turned to face Finn. Truth was, none of them really had any ideas, and they were all hoping that Rachel was going to come up with something for the group, but it didn't look like it was going to happen at any time soon.

"Rachel?" everyone turned to face her, as she appeared to be ignoring what was going on around her, it was only when Brittany gave her a gentle nudge that she rose from her seat and headed out of the door. Finn jumped to his feet but was held back by Mr Schuster.

"She needs to deal with this in her own way," he said quietly. Finn nodded and reluctantly returned to his seat.

"Jesse!" Rachel raced through the empty hallways, shouting out his name, her heart was pounding but it didn't stop her. She continued to race through the school, sneaking a peek through any window she could find. Eventually she came to a standstill and rested her head against the wall; she let out a deflated sigh and wiped away a few stray tears. She closed her eyes tightly and allowed the silence to engulf her and her thoughts; she allowed herself to settle into the steady rhythm of her heartbeat and managed to lose herself for a matter of seconds. She had become so engrossed with the sound of her heartbeat that she hardly noticed the sound of footsteps growing approaching her. She snapped her eyes open and quickly glanced along the hallway, almost losing her breath when she noticed Jesse's form approaching her.

"Jesse?" he sighed and continued walking past.

"Jesse, where are you going?" she shouted as she followed him.

"Please answer me. Surely, I deserve that at least?" Jesse stopped and closed his eyes, before slowly turning to face her.

"You deserve so much more than that," he whispered, as she approached him. Their eyes met again and a mutual sadness was felt between them.

"I...I don't know what we're supposed to do next." Rachel admitted, Jesse nodded and gently reached out and clasped his hands around hers, feeling the spark between them Jesse pulled her closer and she rested her head on his chest, their breathing become in sync with each other.

"I'm so sorry for ever hurting you." He whispered as they stood there. They returned to silence, but for the first time in days, it wasn't an awkward silence, it was a silence of an understanding between the pair. Rachel knew that even though he'd hurt her more than she could've ever imagined she wasn't sure if she would be able to cope without him, she'd given him her heart, she couldn't just forget the feelings that she held for him.

"I'm transferring back to Carmel High." He sighed

"No, no you can't!" Rachel said shaking her head, her hands still clasped inside of his.

"Rachel, I need Glee, it's my only way into college, and if I can't perform with you, with New Directions," he stopped for a moment and sighed, "Then I need to perform with Vocal Adrenaline," He gently kissed her forehead sending shivers through her body as he did so, before letting go and releasing Rachel from what was her security blanket, and walking away. It took a moment for Rachel to register what was going on, but when she finally did Jesse was already walking out of the door.

"Jesse!" Rachel shouted as she followed him. "Jesse, please don't leave!" He ignored her as he got into his car. He started the engine and pulled up alongside her, he turned to face her and sighed.

"I love you," Rachel shook her head as he drove away, leaving her to call out his name before collapsing to the ground and allowing herself to cry.

Jesse continued to drive, ignoring the tears that were filling his eyes as he did so. He pulled up and marched inside, using his sleeve to wipe away any stray tears that had made their escape. He took a deep breath before pushing the doors in front of him wide open.

"Okay everyone, take five," Jesse worked himself through the group, as everyone said hello to him, he tried to look happy to see them, but with the current situation it was difficult.

"Jesse? What are you doing here?"

"I've come back Shelby,"

"I knew it wouldn't be long," she smirked,

"It's not what you think, I'm no longer welcome at McKinley, Vocal Adrenaline is my only way to college," Shelby nodded and smirked.

"Well, it seems we have our star back!" she announced loudly, to the delights of the other members.

After a while Rachel managed to pick herself from the floor and attempted to straighten out her outfit, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and slowly made her way into the school. Deciding that she wasn't quite up to returning back to the choir room, she headed in the opposite direction towards the girls bathroom. Once inside she groaned at her reflection, she looked awful, her eyes were puffy from all of the crying, and her mascara had run down her face, if there was ever a day for her to wear her waterproof mascara, then today would've been it. Sighing quietly, she turned on the tap and let the cold water flow; pulling out some paper towels she began dabbing at her face, attempting to make herself look a little more acceptable. She was so entranced that she hadn't noticed that she was no longer alone.

"Rachel?" she jumped and turned around, giving a relieved smile when she saw Brittany stood in front of her.

"Oh hi Brit," she mumbled as she returned to her reflection again, Brittany gave her a soft smile and walked over to her, placing her arms around Rachel as she did so.

"Did you find him?" Brittany asked quietly, Rachel nodded silently, letting out a quiet sniff. Brittany pulled away and held her at arm's length.

"He's transferred back to Carmel high," Brittany stared at her, and Rachel could help but smile at her friend.

"He's gone back to Vocal Adrenaline," Rachel explained, realisation spread across Brittany's face, and Rachel sighed.

"Oh...well...erm," Rachel watched as Brittany struggled to find the right words, as lovely as she was, words were not really her strong point.

"At least you don't have to see him every day," she said finally and Rachel bit her lip.

"But...but I do want to see him every day," Rachel sighed, "I know he hurt me, and I shouldn't want to see him ever again, but I do." Brittany nodded, and the girls fell into silence, Rachel sighed as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, she still looked terrible. Something that Brittany was quick to pick up on. Opening her bag, she pulled out her makeup case and placed it on the side, Rachel watched on as Brittany set to work, gently applying a range of colours to Rachel's skin, desperate to hide any sign that she'd been crying.

"Puck and Finn were really angry with him," Brittany started as she started work on Rachel's eyes, "Maybe it's a good thing he's gone, he won't get beaten to a pulp then," Once Brittany was finished, Rachel turned towards the mirror again and smiled at what she saw, if someone was see her now, they would have no idea that she'd spent the best part of the last hour crying, Brittany may not be the smartest person, but she was a miracle worker when it cake to make up.

"Thank you Brittany," Rachel grinned as she hugged her.

"I'm having a sleepover at my house tonight, all the girls from Glee are coming, you should come, it'll cheer you up," Brittany suggested as Rachel pulled away.

"Yeah, maybe I will," Rachel smiled as the pair headed out of the bathroom and back towards the choir room. Rachel desperately trying to put on a brave face, but she just couldn't concentrate on anything else, other than Jesse's final words to her. He'd told her that he loved her, what did that mean? Nothing was every simple for Rachel Berry.


	6. Chapter 6

**Before I post this, how good was the final episode of Glee? I'm not afraid to admit that I shed a tear - I won't ruin it for those who haven't seen it yet, but definatley the best of season. I'm just gutted that we've got to wait until next year now for the next episode.  
Anyway, back to the fic. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I loved experiementing with the different characters and their interaction with each other. I'm hoping for chapter 7 to be posted tomorrow, because I've got plans for the different characters.**

I'm really enjoying writing this, it's different to anything else that I have ever written, but I'm loving it. Believe me, we've got good things coming up in this fic between Jesse and Rachel, so stay tuned, but please don't lose faith if it doesn't happen straight away. What kind of story would that be eh? Please leave me your comments/reviews, I love reading them, they make me smile :D

Rachel pulled up outside Brittany's house and sighed as she reached for her bag, maybe this wasn't the best place for her to be right now. After all, she hadn't had any time to grieve over Jesse just yet, and although everyone's attitudes had changed slightly towards her, she wasn't sure if she could stand a whole night with them. But she was doing this for Brittany who had been there for her this week, and introduced to her to a world where having friends was the norm. She walked up the driveway and knocked on the door, she could already hear giggling coming from inside, at least she wasn't the first one to arrive.

"It's Rachel!" Brittany grinned as she swung the door open; she quickly pulled her into a hug catching Rachel by surprise.

"Come in!" Brittany grinned as she pulled her through the door "everyone's here already,"

"Oh, I'm not late am I?" Rachel asked hesitantly, Brittany shook her head and took Rachel's hand, leading her into her house, Rachel followed obediently. She dropped her overnight bag in the hallway and followed Brittany into the garden, everyone turned to wave at her and Rachel felt slightly at ease.

"My parents are out for the evening, so we have the place to ourselves," Brittany explained as she handed Rachel a drink from the table. Rachel nodded and gratefully took it, taking a sip she realised that it wasn't a soft drink as she had initially thought, she scrunched up her face and caused the girls around her to laugh.

"This is it alcoholic isn't it?" Rachel asked, Brittany gave her an innocent smile and nodded.

"Have you even had alcohol before?" Santana asked, Rachel opened her mouth and Mercedes interrupted her.

"Champagne at a wedding doesn't count," the girls laughed as Rachel shook her head,

"It's not good for my vocal chords, you know," Rachel said attempting to explain, the girls rolled their eyes as they picked up their drinks.

"We really need to loosen you up a bit," Santana stated as she sipped at her drink.

"Rachel's a laugh when she isn't stressing about Glee," Brittany added, Rachel blushed, again she was trying to work on it, she hadn't stressed about Glee for two whole days now, that was a record for her, hadn't anyone even noticed that?

As the evening progressed the girls moved inside into the warm, Brittany had covered the room with blankets and pillows, Rachel smiled as Mercedes and Tina entered the room with a selection of sweets and chocolates, whilst Quinn was carrying a huge tub of ice cream with 6 spoons.

"Come on, I'll show you to the bathroom," Brittany grinned as she picked up Rachel's overnight bag, "We'll change into our PJ's then we'll chill out downstairs," Rachel nodded as Brittany left her in the bathroom. As Rachel changed, she began to consider whether her pyjamas would be appropriate, no one had ever really seen her in them before; it was too late now anyway, she didn't have an alternative. She quickly changed and folded her clothes before placing them back into her bag, she ran a comb through her hair and stared at her reflection. Her pyjama's weren't ugly, they were practical but were they enough? They were simple enough, a pink strappy top with shorts, nothing fancy, but after being criticised at school for her fashion sense she wasn't sure if her choice here would be appropriate. She jumped when there was a knock at the door.

"Rachel, are you ready yet?" Rachel sighed and opened the door, and smiled at Brittany, who was stood in an old football jersey and a pair of red cheerio shorts.

"Those pyjamas are cute Rachel!" Brittany noted, Rachel smiled as the pair headed back downstairs.

"Nice jersey Brit, is it Mikes?" Rachel asked, Brittany grinned and nodded as they pushed the door open to the lounge. A wave of relief washed over Rachel, none of the girls were wearing anything fancy, Quinn of course was pretty covered up, a pair of black sweat pants and a baggy t-shirt, Santana was wearing something similar to Rachel, only hers were black, Mercedes was wearing an old blue t-shirt that was pretty baggy on her with a pair of matching bottoms, and Tina of course was wearing all black again, a tight fitting top with shorts. The girls sat down and attempted to join the conversation going on between the others. Rachel watched as Brittany joined in instantly, she was however a little more reserves, she hadn't really spoken to anyone since the incident earlier that day, she wasn't sure if they'd be mad at her for chasing after Jesse like that, but to her relief, the girls made a point of including her in their conversations. Santana passed around a bottle of Vodka and Rachel made a point of taking a long gulp from the bottle, all girls stopped and stared at her for minute, once she had finished, Rachel removed the bottle from her lips and smiled at them.

"What?" she asked, a small smile spreading across her face.

"I thought you didn't drink," Santana smirked,

"After what I've been through the last few days I think I'm more than entitled to have a drink," she explained the girls glanced at each other and none of them could actually deny that for once she was talking sense. Quinn feeling a little left out as everyone continued to drink decided that it was now time to crack open the ice cream – being pregnant definitely had some advantages. Brittany eyed her as picked up a spoon of her own, passing one along to Rachel.

"It's better than alcohol," she explained,

"Yeah, it helps to heal any broken heart," Mercedes added. The girls nodded and left the alcohol alone for a while and tucked into the ice cream, Quinn giggled at them slightly, knowing that sooner or later they'd all come around to her thinking.

"Rachel..." Rachel lifted her head as she heard her name being spoken quietly, she glanced around and noticed that it was Quinn, she gave her a soft smile and Quinn continued.

"I know it's probably none of our business but..." she trailed off and Rachel knew exactly what they wanted to know. She glanced around at her friends who were trying not to look directly at her, she nodded – maybe if she confided in them now, they might be able to help her work things out. She certainly wasn't having any luck dealing with this on her own.

"You want to know what happened between Jesse and I don't you?" the girls nodded and Rachel smiled, as she filled her spoon with ice cream again.

She delved into the gritty details of the days events, a little stunned as the girls sat and listened intently to her, something that had never really happened before, even Mr Schuster would zone out when she was talking him, she certainly wasn't used to having this much attention on her unless she was on the stage.

"He told you he loved you?" Brittany repeated the end of Rachel's story.

"That is so adorable" Tina cooed, receiving a nudge from Mercedes.

"What? I'm not saying that what he did was right, but he told her that he loved her, no one has ever said that to me before," she admitted, and once again the girls all nodded in agreement. Even Quinn, which stunned the group, especially as she'd had two guys fighting for her affections for the past 7 months.

"So what are you going to do Rachel?" Mercedes asked, Rachel bit her lip and shrugged.

"I don't know, it doesn't really matter now anyway, he's gone," Once again the girls fell into silence and tucked into some more ice cream, Mercedes was right, it did help to heal the pain that she was feeling, but that maybe had something to do with it numbing her insides.

Quinn began fidgeting in her seat and sighed quietly, the girls watched her as she tried to get comfortable again.

"Quinn?" Mercedes said nervously.

"The baby's kicking," she explained, "It's probably because I've been sitting down for song long," Rachel giggled quietly to herself,

"Are you sure it's got nothing to do with all the ice cream you've eaten tonight?" she giggled, Brittany smiled innocently at Quinn.

"Maybe the baby has got brain freeze," she said out loud, Quinn stared at them and started laughing.

"Yeah, could be," she said causing the girls to laugh.

"Quinn, what's it like being pregnant?" Rachel asked, stunning the former cheerleader for a moment, Quinn smiled and placed her hands on her bump.

"Weird," she stated and the girls giggled, and Quinn shook her head, "No, it's annoying the way that people judge you, but...I don't know...It's nice that someone is actually depending on me, I've never been responsible for anything in my life."

"I used to depend on Jesse..." Rachel sighed, as she seemed to have phased out from the group, Santana rolled her eyes and sat up from where she had been lying previously.

"You want him back don't you?" Quinn asked quietly, Rachel sighed and shook her head, she didn't fool Quinn, she recognised the symptoms.

"Yes you do," Quinn stated, "I've been there with Finn remember?"

"Yeah I guess, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do," Rachel explained, "He's gone back to Vocal Adrenaline, the next time I see him will be at Regional's, it'll be too late by then."

"No necessarily," Santana smirked, reaching up to whisper something in Brittany's ear, the blonde shrieked excitedly and skipped out of the room, Rachel eyed Santana as she did the same to Quinn, who nodded with a smile on her face and got to her feet. The two girls left the room, leaving Rachel alone with Tina and Mercedes. The girls exchanged glances and shrugged, each of them curious as to what was going on. They didn't have to wait much longer as Brittany bounded into the room, carrying a huge make up bag, she placed it onto the table and beamed at Rachel.

"Brit, what's going on?" Rachel asked as Santana and Quinn returned to the room carrying stacks of clothes and hair accessories. Mercedes and Tina understood immediately, as they jumped to their feet and began looking through the huge pile that had been created.

"Calm down Berry," Santana said abruptly,

"We're giving you a makeover!" Brittany grinned

"You need a new start after everything that has happened to you recently, why not start with a new look," Quinn explained,

"When we're done with you, every guy will want you, then we he see's you at Regional's he'll realise that you're no longer dependant on him," Mercedes was grinning at her now, Rachel still wasn't sure, and Santana could see this, she rolled her eyes and stood directly in front of Rachel.

"Why do you think he's told you this now, Berry?" Rachel shrugged, "He wanted to get at you before Regional's, you can't let him get inside your head," Rachel glanced at the other girls who nodded at her and Rachel sighed.

"Is a makeover really necessary though," she asked, remembering the last time someone offered to give her a makeover, Kurt had sabotaged her, turned her into something that she wasn't, she couldn't go through that again.

"Yes!" All five girls shouted at her,

"We're your friends Rachel," Brittany smiled encouragingly, "You can trust us," The others nodded and Rachel eventually gave into them.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth, as Santana pushed her down into the nearest chair. Brittany clapped her hands excitedly as the girls crowded over her, discussing what would look good on her.

"Oh no, I can't wear that!" Rachel exclaimed as Brittany held up yet another outfit for her, Santana tugged at her hair and Rachel was sure that it was on purpose.

"Rachel, the reason we're doing all of this is to give you a new look, you have to decide on something!" Brittany said in an exasperated tone, Rachel sighed as Mercedes and Tina held up two more outfits, Brittany gave her a hopeful smile and Rachel nodded.

"That top is kind of cute," she mumbled pointing to the top that was Tina was holding, a pale pink beaded Grecian top, a little different to what she would usually wear, but it wasn't so different that she would look totally obvious like she had done before.

"Great, now you need something to wear with them," Mercedes stated, rolling her eyes at her.

"Or you could just wear the top, that'll make the guys notice you," Santana smirked; Rachel looked horrified at the thought and quickly scanned the items of clothing that the girls were holding up for her. Everything was so short, she'd never been really lacked self confidence about her body, her vigorous training regime made sure of that, but the thought of going of out wearing something that revealing was unthinkable.

"How about this," Brittany suggesting holding a tiny skirt, Rachel shook her head and glanced over in Quinn's direction, who was staring longingly at one of Brittany's dresses. It was beautiful, it was a two toned pink corset mesh dress, yes it was figure hugging and completely different to something that she would usually wear, but that didn't put her off this time, the dress was amazing. Quinn looked up and held out the dress to her, Rachel shook her head and smiled.

"I couldn't you were looking at it first," Quinn rolled her eyes and pointed to her bump.

"I won't be wearing anything like that for a few more months yet," she laughed and Rachel smiled back.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that before?" Brittany said loudly, snatching the dress from Rachel's grasp. She gasped and watched as Brittany paraded the dress in front of Mercedes and Tina.

"Shoes!" Tina shouted as Brittany saluted her before running back upstairs, the girls followed her leaving Rachel and Quinn alone to talk.

"You're lucky you know," Quinn sighed, Rachel stared at her, raising an eyebrow as she did so, Quinn smiled and shook her head.

"I miss this, a sleepover with the girls, looking at the latest fashion tips, fixing each other's make up, it's nice," she took a breath, "It's normal." Rachel smiled and gently reached out to squeeze Quinn's hand.

"Quinn, you're still able to do these things," Quinn shrugged and looked away, not wanting Rachel to see the tears in her eyes.

"You're going to look beautiful in that dress," she took another breath, "I'm jealous, I'm actually jealous of you," Rachel gulped and Quinn realised what she had said, she shook her head and sighed. She hadn't meant it to sound to spiteful, it had just slipped out, she gave Rachel a small smile and placed her hand on top of hers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Rachel nodded, "I just wish that I could feel beautiful again, no one bothers to even look in my direction, unless it's to make fun of me," she pulled her hand away and wiped away a stray tear.

"You're still beautiful, Quinn," Rachel smiled, "Noah can't keep his eyes off you, you know that,"

"That's only because I'm carrying his child," Quinn scoffed and Rachel shook her head.

"Do you remember when Noah and I dated," Rachel whispered, Quinn nodded, "He broke up with me because he was in love with you, he still is. It would never have worked anyway; I had feelings for somebody else,"

"Finn," Quinn nodded, and Rachel sighed and agreed.

"The point is, he thinks you're beautiful no matter what, surely that's what counts?" Quinn sniffed and smiled at her, Rachel reached out and the two girls shared a brief hug.

"I'm so sorry for all the things I ever said to you," Quinn whispered, "You're really not that bad," Rachel smiled as she pulled away.

"New start?" she suggested, Quinn smiled and agreed, just before the others returned to the room, each with a handful of shoes. Rachel and Quinn giggled as Quinn tried to wipe her eyes before anyone noticed that she'd been crying.

"What do you think?" Brittany asked eagerly, thrusting a handful of shoes into Rachel's lap, she shrugged and began looking through the shoes; Quinn quietly got up from her seat and walked to the other side of the room. Rachel watched her and sighed, the former cheerleader was in a deep depression, it was going to take a lot to lift her from it.

"Hey, I don't need four of you working on me, why don't we take turns, two of you could do Quinn's hair and makeup?" Rachel suggested, instantly the girls nodded and split off, Quinn sat down and smiled gratefully at Rachel who simply shrugged. Brittany and Santana continued to work on Rachel, whilst Mercedes and Tina set to work on Quinn.

"Now go and get changed," Santana demanded as she finished her makeup, Rachel hadn't seen the end result yet, just a selection of smiling faces from the other girls, so finally getting into the swing of things Rachel marched into the bathroom, dress in hand. She slipped the dress over her head and adjusted it over her body, removing her pyjama's as she did so. It was only when the dress was in place that she finally looked in the mirror and saw exactly what the girls had done. She no longer looked like Rachel Berry, the annoying girl from glee who had a passion for animal sweaters, she looked like Rachel Berry, the star. She smiled at what she saw and slowly emerged from the bathroom. Everyone stopped what they were doing when she emerged and grinned at her, Brittany literally bounced in her direction, startling Rachel as she thrust a pair of heels at her.

"Here, try these," she grinned; Rachel nodded and slipped her feet inside.

"How do I look?" she asked sheepishly.

"You look beautiful," Quinn grinned; Rachel smiled back at her, noticing that she'd also changed her hairstyle. Quinn just nodded and placed her hand back onto her baby bump.

The girls sat down again, Santana styling her hair, as Mercedes and Tina began experimenting with different makeup styles, when Brittany's phone started to vibrate on the table on the opposite side of the room. Brittany got up and skipped across the room.

"It's Mike!" she squealed, Santana rolled her eyes as her friend wandered out of the room, phone attached to her ear. The girls fell into a comfortable chatter, Quinn smiling and joining in, Rachel felt a little happier knowing that she'd played a part in that.

"Guess what?" Brittany grinned as she poked her head around the door.

"What?" Santana asked, a hint of boredom in her voice,

"The boys are on their way," the girls jumped to their feet, panicking that they were all sat around in their pyjama's Rachel aside of course.

"Are you serious?" Rachel asked, Brittany nodded and skipped up the stairs towards her bedroom, closely followed by Santana. Mercedes and Tina began scrambling around the room searching for their outfits from that evening, as Quinn sighed and picked up her dress form earlier.

"Remember Quinn, you're beautiful," Rachel whispered coming up behind her, Quinn nodded and stood up slowly, heading to the bathroom to get changed, a whole new confidence surrounding her. As Rachel stood in the lounge alone, she glanced one more time in the mirror and smiled – this was the test that Santana was on about, it was time to show her new look to the world.


	7. Chapter 7

**Yet again, a huge HUGE thank you to everyone reading this. I can't believe I've already had 5000 hits on this, that's incredible! Thank you to everyone to has reviewed this or added it to their alerts/favourites. This is a long chapter, but it features the rest of the sleepover, this time with the boys. There is a slight twist towards the end of this chapter, please don't be mad at me. I have plans for it, so it's there for a reason, please just give it a chance.**

I'm also aware that there has been a lack of musical numbers featured in this so far, but never fear there are some coming up. Featuring songs that wouldn't necessarily be shown in the show, but I think the songs I have chosen work in context with the way this story is heading. I can't believe we're already on chapter 7, there are still plently of chapters to come, so we're not done yet.

Thanks again for sticking with this - as always please leave your comments, let me know what you're thinking about the twist in this chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

Rachael x.

The girls were full of excitement as they eagerly waited for the boys to arrive; they had all changed back into their clothes, horrified at the thought of the boys seeing them in their pyjamas. The door knocked loudly and the 6 of them squealed loudly as Brittany darted towards the door, Santana, Tina and Mercedes following her. Rachel decided to stay with Quinn as she couldn't move as fast as the others. Brittany swung the door open wide and Mike stepped inside, sweeping her up into his arms, she giggled and kissed him, as he slowly returned her to the ground. Puck rolled his eyes and pushed his way past the couple, leading the boys into the house. As they walked into the lounge, everyone froze as they saw Rachel stood in the far corner of the room.

"Hey Brittany, who's your friend?" Puck asked, receiving a glare from Quinn, Brittany giggled as she walked in behind them, Mike's arm still wrapped around her.

"That's Rachel," Rachel turned around slowly and the boys stood there, mouths gaping. Rachel blushed and absently placed a strand of her behind her ear, the silence was broken by a seemingly outraged Kurt.

"You've been doing makeovers without me?" he said accusingly to Mercedes, who shrugged and grinned.

"It was a last minute thing, she looks good though right?" Kurt walked forward, eying Rachel from head to toe, everyone watched him – makeovers were like crack to him, he circled Rachel slowly, nodding every now and then. Eventually he stopped and stared at Rachel's hair and makeup, Rachel felt ridiculous any minute now he was going to come out with some criticisms and ruin what was turning into a brilliant evening.

"You'll pass," Kurt sighed, before turning to face Mercedes again, "It wouldn't have been my choice of course, but it is an improvement," the girls laughed and the atmosphere that Kurt had created was instantly lifted.

Everyone began to move into the garden, according to Brittany there was more room for everyone outside, Santana making a point of picking up the bottles of alcohol that the girls hadn't gotten around to yet.

"Hey, what's a party without a little alcohol?" she giggled as Rachel stared at her. Rachel shrugged and followed her out into the garden, Santana instantly joined up with Brittany placing the alcohol on the table next to them. Rachel noticed that the dynamic of the group had changed since the boys had arrived. Brittany was smitten with Mike, as she sat on his lap; Rachel smiled as she continued to wander through the garden. She noticed Mercedes and Kurt stood on the on the far side of the garden, with Tina and Artie heading in their direction, she didn't want to impose with them, knowing they'd probably be discussing their Glee assignment, and wouldn't feel comfortable with her over hearing their plans. She smiled as she noticed Puck and Quinn sat in the far corner of the garden, Puck's hand resting on her bump. Although Rachel and Noah had had a brief fling a few months back, she knew that deep down the two of these people belonged together; she'd seen how they looked at each other when they didn't think anyone was watching them. It was cute. So she eventually settled on the garden swing at the bottom of the garden, although she was sitting alone, she didn't feel left out anymore, she felt content watching everyone around her, it gave her time to reflect on things. Suddenly Rachel felt the swing begin to move, she looked up and smiled.

"Hey, mind if I join you," she nodded and smiled as Finn took the vacant seat next to her.

"So, how are you feeling?" Rachel shrugged and smiled.

"I'm getting better," Finn smiled and they settled into a comfortable silence observing their friends scattered across the garden.

"You look amazing tonight, Rachel," she blushed and smiled at him.

"It's nice to see you smile again," he commented, "I've got to say; you're dealing really well with everything."

"Yeah, well, that's me. I'm used to it," Finn nodded and watched her as she turned away from him. She smiled as she noticed Matt approaching them, Finn followed her eye line and smiled at his friend, secretly gutted that his alone with Rachel was being cut short.

"Hey guys," Matt smiled leaning on the bars above the swing, "Mind if I join you, I'm feeling like a third wheel at the moment," Rachel giggled as he pointed over to Mike and Brittany, Finn shrugged and nodded.

"What about Santana?" Rachel smiled, and Matt shook his head and laughed.

"Been there before," he explained, "We're just friends now, she's happy enough to sit with them though, you know she's fiercely protective over Brittany," Rachel nodded, and Finn remembered that horrific time that he'd dated the two of them, Brittany and Mike were sweet together, but if ever anything happened to Brittany then everyone knew that Santana would be the one hurting Mike.

"So have you got any ideas for the Glee assignment," Matt asked, Rachel shrugged and turned to Finn who shook his head.

"I had something, but it was a very angry song," Rachel admitted, causing Matt and Finn to laugh.

"You don't want to be angry anymore?" Matt asked, Rachel shook her head

"It's not worth it,"

Finn got up leaving Rachel and Matt alone; he walked over to where the rest of the group had gathered.

"You okay Finn?" Puck asked, Finn nodded and picked up a drink.

"They look cosy," Kurt commented pointing in the direction of Rachel and Matt, everyone turned to face them and nodded with curiosity. Matt was talking with Rachel seemingly hanging on his every word; she giggled and seemed happier than she'd ever been over the last week. The girls exchanged glances, each of them recalling Rachel's revelation earlier that evening that she still wanted Jesse in her life.

"You think there's anything going on there?" Artie asked, Santana rolled her eyes and picked up another drink.

"Whatever, she's just having some fun, she deserves it after everything," Everyone turned to face Santana, her attitude stunning them into silence.

"What, I know I can be a bitch, but she's been through stuff, real stuff," Quinn nodded and smiled as she turned to face Matt and Rachel again.

"Well I think it's sweet," she commented, Tina and Mercedes nodded whilst the guys shrugged, not really into the whole mushy, dealing with your feelings kind of things. Finn remained silent; it was no secret that he still had feelings for Rachel. It had just taken her to get into a relationship with Jesse for him to realise his true feelings. He hadn't trusted Jesse from day one, always knowing that he would hurt her in some way, now it had happened he had thought that he would be the one to protect her, help her work through the pain, he wanted to be the person that she turned to when she wanted advice or just someone to talk to. Now everything was turning against him, she'd suddenly struck up a friendship with the girls of glee, allowing them to give her a stunning makeover, now all that work was going to waste on Matt. He'd hardly even spoke to her before, what made him so special?

"I'm cold Mike!" Brittany wined; he wrapped his arms tighter around her and placed his head on her shoulder, Quinn sighed as she leant against Puck.

"I'm getting cold as well," Puck smiled at her, and cautiously mimicked Mike's actions, taking care to place his hands on her baby bump.

"Maybe we should move inside," Mercedes suggested,

"Yeah, we've got the blankets and everything in there," Tina added, the boys nodded and began picking up the bottles and glasses to take them inside. Tina wheeled Artie into the house, followed by Mercedes and Kurt. Everyone drifted inside, leaving Santana to call Matt and Rachel.

"We're going in now guys," she shouted, they nodded and she walked inside. Rachel rested her head against the back of the swing and sighed.

"I wish we could stay out here forever," she said, Matt smiled at her and slowly stood up.

"Come on, you'll catch a cold, and that won't be good for your voice," Rachel smiled and allowed Matt to pull her to her feet. He swung an arm around her shoulders and the pair walked inside. They entered the kitchen and Brittany pulled her to the side. Matt shrugged and walked over to the join the boys in the lounge.

"We're going to change into our pyjamas, we'll be more comfortable then," Brittany explained, taking her hand and leading her upstairs. The girls followed her and slammed the door behind them.

"Okay, now dish the dirt," Mercedes said abruptly, Rachel stared at her and Tina giggled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel stated as she picked up her pyjamas. Mercedes glanced at Santana and they rolled their eyes. Brittany grinned and linked arms with Rachel.

"Do you like Matt?" she asked, Rachel smile and shrugged.

"I'm going to get changed," the girls shrieked as Rachel began getting changed.

"Come on Rachel, tell us," Brittany grinned and Rachel shook her head.

"Are you going to get changed, the boys are waiting for us," Santana glanced at Mercedes and the pair rolled their eyes. Realising they were not going to get any more gossip out of Rachel tonight, the girls quickly got changed and headed downstairs. Brittany linking arms with Rachel as they did so, Brittany slowed down and whispered in Rachel's ear.

"Matt's a really nice guy you know," Rachel smiled and nodded.

"I know,"

"So what about Jesse?" Rachel shrugged,

"There's nothing going between Matt and I, he's just being friendly. Believe me, I wouldn't move on that quickly," Brittany nodded and the pair of them walked back into the lounge. Brittany let go of Rachel and hopped over to Mike, sitting down on top of him, Rachel noticed again how everyone had coupled up, before smiling when she saw a gap between Matt and Finn. She walked over and happily sat down between them.

"So what are we going to do?" Santana asked in her usual abrupt tone, Mercedes and Kurt grinned and nodded.

"I suggest we find out a little more about each other," Kurt stated,

"How are we going to do that?" Finn asked, Santana rolled her eyes, instantly understanding what they were getting at. She nodded and started filling twelve glasses and passing them around.

"Never have I ever?" Mercedes grinned, receiving a number of confused glances, she rolled her eyes and Kurt smiled.

"It's a drinking game," he explained, "Someone says 'Never have I ever' then something else then who ever has done that has to take a drink," everyone looked impressed and nodded.

"Okay, I'll start," Kurt grinned, he sat back and thought about it for moment before grinning at the group, "Never have I ever...Never have I ever stole a car," everyone looked stunned for a moment, stunned that Kurt would have done something like that, the quiet boy who seemed innocent of most things. Then attention turned to Puck who took a drink and then Mercedes.

"Okay, you need to tell us when and why," Quinn giggled. Kurt nodded and grinned at his friends.

"There was a huge sale at that new designer outlet at the mall, Mercedes had smashed my window, so I didn't have a car," Mercedes bit her lip as she remembered the incident clearly, "Anyway, my dad had just finished work on a car, so I took it. It was a fashion emergency!" everyone laughed and agreed that it did indeed count as a stealing a car, attention soon turned to Puck who smirked at them.

"What do you want me to say, it's not as creative as Kurt's story, the car was just there," he smirked, "The loser had just left the keys in the car, it was an open opportunity, I had to do it. I'm badass remember," Rachel rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling at his antics.

"Okay Mercedes, your turn," Mercedes grinned and shrugged,

"Again, it's nothing really. I'd had an argument with my brother; I needed to let off some steam, so I stormed out – not before I took his keys, I drove to Kurt's and spent the night there, my brother was mad when I got home the next day,"

"Okay, my turn," Santana grinned, "Never have I ever, had sex with someone in this room," this one was a little more interesting, more people drank. Puck and Quinn, obviously that was to be expected, Brittany and Mike drank, not so much of a surprise again, then Finn shifted in his seat as he took a drink, followed by Artie and Tina,

"Okay, so Puck and Quinn, that one pretty much explains itself," Mercedes commented, Quinn blushed as Puck smirked, "Brittany and Mike – well it's no big surprise I guess. But Tina and Artie, why didn't you tell me girl?" Artie took Tina's hand in his and she shrugged.

"I guess we wanted to keep it between us," she admitted and Rachel smiled at their relationship. Suddenly all eyes were on Finn.

"Okay Finn, your turn," Mercedes grinned, Rachel turned to face him, and he sighed.

"Me and Santana," he mumbled, loud shrieks filled the room and Rachel shook her head at him, Finn looked ashamed of himself and Santana smirked at him.

"Okay, different question," Brittany grinned, "Never have I ever had a crush on a teacher," everyone giggled and Rachel took a sip from her glass. Everyone laughed and suddenly all eyes were on her.

"No way, who?" Brittany shrieked and Rachel.

"Mr Schuster," she said quietly, and the girls shrieked loudly again, before erupting into a fit of giggles.

"Really? Why?" Santana laughed.

"Remember when we had that ballad assignment?" she asked as everyone nodded, "Well when he was singing 'Endless Love' something happened, it only lasted a few days,"

"Oh my God!" Matt laughed, from her side; she turned to face him and nudged him but couldn't help laughing along with him.

"It was your fault, if you hadn't found that spider in your ear, then I wouldn't have had to work with him," she giggled and Matt shook his head.

"You can't blame me for you crushing on Schuster," he laughed as Rachel nudged him again. Everyone watched as they continued to laugh with each other, Mercedes and Tina exchanged knowing glances, as Mike stared at Brittany for some sort of explanation, she grinned as she shook her head and kissed him.

As the evening went on, everybody began to flake out, leaving the odd few talking. Rachel glanced around the room at everyone, realising how well she had got to know them over the last few days, she was friends with Quinn now, the two finally understanding each other. Santana had gone through so much trouble to give her a makeover; something she wouldn't have done a week ago and Brittany had invited her for a sleepover with the rest of the Glee club. She'd had so much fun tonight, more fun she'd that ever had.

She smiled to herself as she watched everyone sleeping; Mike's arm was still securely wrapped around Brittany, as was Puck with Quinn. Tina had her head resting on Artie's lap, their hands still intertwined. Mercedes and Kurt had fallen asleep with their heads together, Rachel imagined they had been discussing something before they had fallen asleep, leaving Santana and Finn, that revelation had stunned her earlier, but Finn wasn't with Rachel when he'd slept with Santana so she couldn't really call it cheating, a little surprising but Finn was entitled to sleep with who he wanted to, after all, she was going to sleep with Jesse at the same time.

"You still awake Rachel?" Matt whispered, she smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I can't sleep with Finn's snoring," she giggled quietly; Matt sat up and smiled at her.

"So tell me, why exactly did you decide to go for this makeover idea?" Rachel shrugged and glanced over at her friends again, it hadn't been her idea, and she'd always been comfortable with her style. She turned back to face Matt who was still smiling at her.

"I don't know, they thought I could do with a new start, after everything that's happened," Matt nodded "Santana thinks that if I had a new look, then it will show Jesse that I don't need him anymore,"

"Do you think it will work," he asked, and Rachel shrugged and bit her lip again, "Do you want it to work?"

"I don't know, I really thought Jesse and I had something special, I just don't know if I can trust him anymore," Matt nodded and thought about for a minute, Rachel watched him and felt grateful that she was able to get this off her chest, the girls were great but they were too quick to get her to move on from Jesse, they dived in with the makeover and instantly began thinking of ways to make him jealous, not necessarily taking Rachel's feelings into consideration.

"Do you want to know what I think?" he asked finally,

"Please," she grinned.

"I think, you still have feelings for him, but you're scared to admit them because you don't want to get hurt again." Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but he shook his head and grinned at her. "I also think that you're scared to confront your feelings because you don't want to upset the club again." He finished and Rachel sat there in silence, Matt was right, he was absolutely right, she'd never known anyone that understood her that well. It freaked her out if she was honest, now she finally understood why Finn was so freaked when she was able to read his mind and tell him exactly who he was. It wasn't nice having someone who could read her mind so easily.

"How did you...?" Rachel couldn't find the words, a first for her. Matt shrugged and leant on the chair behind them.

"We've been in Glee together for a while now, I observe things," he admitted, Rachel nodded but still was stunned at the boy she had barely spoken to over the last few months was able to understand her better than anyone ever had.

"What do you think I should do?" Rachel asked finally, taking Matt to be the voice of reason, he shrugged and leant forward, making sure that no one would ever hear what he was going to say to her.

"Man, I can't believe I'm saying this but...I'd follow your heart," he whispered, he leant back and shook his head, "I can't believe I've just said that, I'm supposed to be a dude, we're not meant to speak about feelings." Rachel giggled and placed her hand on top of his.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"What are friends for?" he grinned holding out his arms for her, she smiled and crawled into them, trying not to wake Finn as she moved.

"Well I'm glad you're my friend Matt," she sighed contently, resting her head on his chest.

"Do you think we could change the subject? My masculinity is on line here," Rachel giggled and hit him playfully, before the conversation switched to something a little more emotional.

The next morning Brittany woke up early, she crept out of her boyfriends grasp and carefully stood up and stretched, her eyes flicked across the room as she smiled at her friends, she instantly focused on Rachel who had fell asleep in Matt's arms.

"I knew it!" she whispered to herself as she crept into the kitchen for a glass of water. She stood in silence for a while as she remembered the last night, it was nice hanging out with the Glee club outside of school, there was no one around to judge them, and they could have a laugh and not be punished for it. They'd have to make a point of doing this more often she decided.

"Hey," Brittany spun around and grinned as Mike walked into the room, she wrapped her arms around him as he kissed her nose.

"Morning," she grinned,

"Hey, have you seen Matt and Rachel?" he asked.

"Yeah, cute isn't it?" Mike shrugged and rested his head on her shoulder again.

"Didn't she just finish with that Jesse kid?" Brittany nodded.

"Yeah, so it's not cheating," she smiled; Mike shrugged and decided to trust his girlfriend's instincts.

Gradually everyone woke up and gathered in the kitchen, Brittany grinned when Rachel walked in followed by Matt. Grinning at the other girls and Kurt they made a run for Rachel, pulling her out of the kitchen. The boys stared at Matt and Mike smirked at him.

"You and Rachel huh?" Matt shook his head.

"No," Matt stated,

"Okay." The boys changed the subject quickly, delving into something a little more masculine.

"What are you doing?" Rachel giggled as she landed on the couch, the girls surrounding her, all looking like they were going to pounce.

"You slept with Matt!" Brittany hissed, full of excitement.

"No I didn't," Rachel protested, Kurt rolled his eyes and walked across the room, "Okay, so I did, but not like that." She relented.

"We can double date!" Brittany shrieked, clapping her hands.

"Yet again, Rachel manages to score a football player, I don't know how she does it," Kurt said from the other side of the room, "You move on quickly," Rachel frowned at him, as he fixed his hair in front of the mirror.

"There's nothing going between Matt and I," Rachel explained,

"Then why did you sleep with his arms around you?" Santana asked, receiving nods from the other girls.

"We were just talking, he was helping me figure out what to do about Jesse," she bit her lip and noticed the hurt on her friend's faces.

"Not that I couldn't discuss things with you," she said quickly, "It was nice having a male perspective on things,"

"Then why didn't you talk to Finn about it," Mercedes asked,

"Finn is my ex boyfriend, don't you think that would be a little awkward?" Rachel asked, the girls glanced at each other and nodded.

"Well as interesting as this is," Quinn grinned as she stood and tapped her baby bump, "Some of us are eating for two, so I suggest we get some breakfast," Rachel smiled at her, grateful that she'd attempted to stop the questioning, Quinn smiled back and slowly walked back into the kitchen, the girls following after her. Brittany held back and sat next to Rachel, Rachel rolled her eyes and turned to smile at her.

"I'm glad we're friends Rachel," Brittany smiled sweetly.

"Me to, but I'm still not dating Matt," Rachel giggled pulling the blonde to her feet. Brittany giggled as she linked arms with Rachel and the pair walked back into the kitchen


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone, sorry it's been a while since the last update. I've been really busy, and it wasn't the easiest chapter to write. Although I am pleased with the end result as it leads nicely into the next chapter, which I've had planned for a while now. Oh and just so you know, Jesse will be back in the next chapter - I'm just saying :D I've had a few reviews commenting that he isn't in this very much. I know it's not perfect, but Rachel's friendships wouldn't have developed if Jesse had stayed at McKinley. He is coming back though.**

**Oh and one more thing - the song that Rachel sings is called 'Issues' by The Saturdays, if you haven't heard it before then got check it out on youtube, I love it and when I was listening to it the other week I knew it was perfect for Jesse and Rachel at the moment.  
So that's all from me, and as always please leave me your comments and reviews, as they make me smile, and mean so much to me :)**

**Rachael x.**

Emma Pillsbury was, as usual, sat alone in her office. She liked being in here, at least she knew exactly where everything had been and she could relax with the knowledge that everything in this room was sanitized on a regular basis, something she couldn't guarantee throughout the rest of the school, lord knows she's tried. As she rearranged her desk so that everything was perfectly aligned, she was distracted by a tapping on her window, lifting her head she saw Will Schuster stood outside, giving her a nervous smile. She nodded slightly and sat back as she watched him slowly enter the room. Things were still awkward between the pair since she had called him out on his secret liaisons with April and Shelby, yet they still classed each other as friends, even if they wasn't necessarily dating anymore.

"Hi," she said quietly, "You can sit down if you'd like," he nodded and carefully took the seat opposite her. She placed her hands on her desk and the pair stared anxiously at each other.

"I really need some advice Emma," Will stated, "I don't know what to do to help the kids anymore,"

Tentatively Emma reached out and placed her hand on top of his, the most contact that they'd had in weeks. Will knew that this was big step for her, especially as she hadn't made him sanitize his hand first.

"I'm guessing that you heard that Jesse St James has transferred back to Carmel?" Will asked,

"Yes I heard, so close to Regional's as well," Emma nodded, her optimism shining through, "I'm sure the kids will be fine, they managed to win Sectional's with only an hour's preparation,"

Will nodded, a sense of pride filling him, Sectional's had been a disaster for everyone involved, having their set list stolen from them at the last minute was horrifying. But then the kids had pulled together and shown everyone what they were made of, they'd gone on stage and performed better than ever. He knew they were good performers; they didn't need Jesse St James to prove that. He was more concerned on how recent events were going to affect his star performer.

"I know, that wasn't what I wanted to talk about," he sighed, Emma nodded and waited for him to speak. Her years of experience telling her that there was something wrong here, she watched him as he sat in silence, his breathing heavy as he thought about ways of putting this. Truth is, he was just as confused about the situation as his students were.

"Shelby Corcoran," Will started, he dropped his eyes as he noticed Emma flinch at the sound of her name, probably not the best way to start this discussion, but after all she was a big part of the problem, along with Jesse of course. "She's Rachel's mother."

"Oh, well...wait, what?" Will nodded and Emma shook her head, Will noticed the signs instantly that had been his reaction as well.

"Does Rachel know?" she asked quietly, again Will nodded, and watched as Emma began to piece everything to together. "Oh my...Jesse seemed like such a good kid,"

"That's the thing; he's only a kid," Will sighed, "its Rachel I'm most concerned about,"

"Well...I could certainly talk to her, you know if she wanted to that is," Will smiled at her gratefully, she gave him a soft smile, her eyes softening as he placed his free hand on top of hers.

"I've missed you," he whispered, she blushed and averted her gaze,

"Will, I think we should go back to discussing the kids," she sighed, removing her hand from his grasp. He nodded and sat back in his seat.

"I just don't know what to do, Rachel was clearly devastated over Jesse's betrayal, she's hardly contributed in the last few rehearsals," he explained,

"Have you tried to talking to her?" Emma asked, and shamefully Will shook his head.

"I wouldn't even know where to start," he admitted.

"You just need to let her know that you're there for her, whenever she needs to talk. Rachel's a strong person, when she's ready she'll talk," Will nodded and thanked her, Emma was the one person he could rely on for advice, he'd never to anyone else, he couldn't help thinking that the advice she'd given him regarding Rachel was also true about her. He knew deep down that she'd talk to him properly again when she was ready, he'd just have wait patiently for that day. He stood up and headed towards the door, stopping to face her. She gave him a soft smile and he sighed.

"I'm really sorry you know,"

"I know," she whispered as he left the room.

Rachel made a point of arranging an extra rehearsal for her a group; especially as they had yet to agree on a number to perform. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Rachel desperately wanted to win this thing, but with everything going on recently, she hadn't had time to actually think of a suitable song to perform. But one thing was for sure, she wanted her number to be performed at Regional's. As she walked through the busy corridors she heard someone calling her name. She slowed down, and nervously turned, her eyes squinting, she'd learnt from experience that you never willingly turn around in the school corridors, not unless you wanted a slushie facial.

"What are you doing?" she opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Matt stood in front of her laughing.

"It doesn't matter," she grinned,

"Are you heading over to the auditorium?" he asked, she nodded and smiled.

"Do you want some company?" she smiled gratefully at him and the pair set off. To say that the pair received some odd looks was an understatement. Rachel had never been popular and joining Glee had done nothing to improve that status, but Matt was on the football team, as well as the basketball team, he was considered popular, he was a friend of Puck's, Glee hadn't really done that much to ruin his reputation. However, seeing him walk through the hallway, his arm draped over Rachel's shoulder, it caused a few raised eyebrows to say the least. As the pair walked inside, they noticed that Brittany and Mike were already there, making the most their alone time. Rachel and Matt exchanged glances before Matt pulled her forward, ignoring her protests. He cleared his throat loudly and the two instantly jumped apart. Matt burst out laughing, and Rachel tried to hold in a giggle. Mike blushed instantly, and Brittany giggled as she noticed Rachel and Matt stood behind them.

"Couldn't wait could you Mike?" Matt laughed, Mike rolled his eyes and stood up

"Sorry," Rachel smiled, "I tried to stop him."

"It's okay, he's never been with a girl, so he wouldn't know what it's like," Mike laughed as he playfully punched his friend, Matt pretended to look hurt and the girls rolled their eyes.

Conversation soon turned to their assignment, after Rachel had made a point of pulling her iPod and dock from her bag and plugging it in, they started off well with Rachel flicking through a selection of songs and getting some opinions from her friends, but they soon got distracted as they recalled the sleepover that they'd shared together. Brittany kept distracting Rachel as she talked about taking her shopping – deciding that now she'd been given a makeover, she was going to have follow it through with a whole new wardrobe. Brittany talked animatedly about inviting the other girls and making a day of it, Rachel struggled to even get a word in, which was hard judging by Rachel's standards. As the music played the background Rachel noticed the boys dancing in the middle of the stage, she found herself staring at them, wishing that for once they could actually put on a proper routine rather than the performing the basic steps that Mr Schuster insisted that they used. She knew that they needed to put on a show to stand out at Regional's; she knew that was what Vocal Adrenaline would be doing.

"Rachel, are you even listening to me?" Brittany asked, as she shook Rachel gently, blinking her eyes and turning to face her, Rachel gave the cheerleader a confused look and Brittany rolled her eyes.

"Will you stop checking him out for like a minute," she grinned.

"I'm not checking him out!" Rachel protested, a little too loudly, as the boys stopped dancing and turned to face the girls. Rachel blushed and Brittany giggled loudly. Mike nudged Matt before the pair of them joined the girls.

"So what were you two talking about?" Mike grinned as he sat down on the floor next to Brittany.

"Rachel was checking Matt out while you were dancing," Brittany stated in a matter-of-fact kind of way, Rachel was mortified as Mike started laughing; Matt simply shrugged and placed an arm around Rachel.

"Yeah well, she's only human I guess," Rachel lost any sense of mortification that she's had previously as she playfully pushed him away from her.

"So if you weren't checking Mike out, who were you looking at?" Brittany asked, Mike sat up proudly and Brittany gave him a stern look, Rachel giggled and shook her head.

"I was watching them dance," Rachel explained, "I was actually thinking that we should work on our performance skills for our assignment. You know, like dancing as well as the singing?"

"One problem," Matt stated, "Don't have a number to work on," Rachel frowned and nodded.

"Well yes...but..."

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Finn walked into the room, grinning at them, he instantly noticed Matt's arm around Rachel and tried not to show the hurt that he was feeling. "Mr Fletcher kept me after class," he explained taking a seat on the floor, in the middle of the group.

"It's okay, you didn't miss much anyway," Mike explained,

"Apart from Rachel checking Matt out," Brittany added, Rachel placed her head in her hands, and Matt shook his head. Finn pretended not to notice.

"We were just trying to figure out a number to perform on Friday," Matt said, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, Rachel wants us to put on some sort of show," Mike added as he comforted Brittany who seemed to realise that she had put her foot in it somehow.

"I actually had an idea about that," Finn grinned as she opened his bag and pulled out a pile of paper, he passed it around and everyone began reading it. Rachel glanced at the page, a little surprised by what she was seeing, she looked up at Finn and he shrugged.

"This could actually work," she smiled.

"I figured we're better with fast numbers,"

"I think we've found our number," Rachel beamed, hugging Finn gratefully. She pulled away almost immediately, realising that hugging him probably wasn't the best option, considering his feelings towards him.

"So, Finn and I will work on the song, do you three want to start on the choreography, you are the best dancers we have," Rachel stated in her usual matter of fact manner, Brittany grinned and excitedly jumped to her feet, pulling Mike and Matt to opposite side of the room. Rachel smiled as she found the song on her iPod and allowed it the fill the auditorium, before she and Finn and began blocking through the song, now Rachel actually had a number to work on, she had no problem picturing the final outcome.

"Okay, so I was thinking you could start," Rachel started, "Maybe alone on the stage, single spotlight, then I would come in here," Finn watched her in awe as she got to work, her hand moving quickly across the page as marked out their selective parts. She then pulled her notebook from her bag and began scribbling in it.

"Rach, what are you doing?" Finn asked

"Brainstorming," she stated, "Obviously I'm not doing the choreography, but that doesn't mean I won't contribute the staging,"

Finn nodded, of course, Rachel wasn't going to allow Mike and Brittany full control of the number, although she'd allowed them to take over the dancing. She glanced over at her friends and grinned, before jotting something else in her book.

"What do you think?" she asked as she passed the book over to Finn. He read through what she'd written and on the whole he was very impressed. She had every detail sorted, and they'd only just started, trust Rachel.

"Yeah, it looks good," he smiled, "I've missed this,"

"What?" she asked, taking the book from him.

"Us working together on a song, we haven't done it since..." he trailed and Rachel knew that he meant Jesse. Whilst Jesse was with them Mr Schuster had given him all of the male leads, so obviously Rachel was always off working with him somewhere, rather than working with Finn like she'd used to. She shook her head and stood up.

"It doesn't matter now," she stated changing the subject, Finn looked defeated as he watched her walk away from him and over to the others. He sighed and followed her, he watched as Mike and Matt gave a quick demonstration of the choreography that they'd been working on. Brittany stood next to Rachel who was watching boys intently.

"What do you think?" Matt asked,

"It's rough at the moment, but we'll work on it tonight," Mike added.

"Yeah it looks good," Rachel beamed, "We'll need to increase our rehearsal time though especially if we want it perfected by Friday afternoon," Everyone agreed, arranging to rehearse at every opportunity they had.

"I've got some staging ideas, as well as costume ideas as well, I'll work on them this afternoon, and we can run through them tonight if you like." Rachel smiled, "My dad's are out tonight, it's their date night, we could rehearse in my garage," she explained.

When the bell rang, everyone collected their belongings and arranged to meet at Rachel's house later that evening, Finn hung back and waited until the others had left before approaching Rachel cautiously.

"I'm sorry for bringing him up," he stated, Rachel shrugged.

"It's fine." She sighed, as she continued to flick through her notebook

"You want to me to help you carry all of this to your locker?" he asked hopefully. She shook her head and smiled.

"I was actually going to stay here for a while," she stated, smiling when she saw Finn raise an eyebrow at her, "I have a free period, so I was going to use it to work on the number,"

"Oh okay," Finn sighed, "I guess I'll see you later then," Rachel nodded and went back to her work, Finn shook his head slightly and headed out into the busy hallway.

Rachel sat alone in the auditorium, the music playing softly in the background, she continued to work, scribbling in her notebook as the ideas emerged in her mind. Her fingers tapped to the constant beat of the music and sighed as she became lost in her thoughts. Her day had been going so well, that was until Finn had brought up Jesse again. She hadn't heard from him, she doubted that she ever would again, but that didn't stop her from wanting to hear his voice just once more time. She quickly switched off the music and sighed, placing her head into her hands. She hated this feeling of confusion – she was Rachel Berry, she was always certain of everything. That was until Jesse had arrived in her life, she'd been certain that he'd cared for her, certain that he'd given up Vocal Adrenaline to be with her – none of that was true.

Sighing quietly, she picked up her iPod and began searching through her song list again, she smiled when she found an appropriate song. Taking a deep breath she hit the play button and placed it back into the dock. The music once more filled the room and she slowly took centre stage, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"_Sometimes, I Feel like I'm going out of my mind,  
Boy the way you do me is a damn crime,  
But then you smile at me and it's all right,  
With you there ain't no in between,_

Every time that I walk out the door,  
Tell myself I can't take it no more,  
There's a part of me won't let you go  
Keep saying yes when my mind's saying no,"

She took a deep breath as she became lost in the song; she opened her eyes and sang to the back of the room, putting conviction into every word that left her mouth.

"Me and my heart we got issues,  
Don't know if I should hate you or miss you,  
Damn, I wish that I could resist you,  
Can't decide if I should leave you or kiss you.  
Me and my heart we got issues, issues, issues.  
We got issues, issues, issues."

As she finished the chorus the song stepped up a notch, she softened her voice as she slowly walked across the stage.

_"Its so wrong, boy you leave me hangin' for so long,  
You empty out my love until its all gone,  
You change the words but still it's the same song,  
I'm tired of the melody._

Change my number and throw out your clothes,  
But my feelings for you, it still shows,  
I keep building the walls round my heart,  
But then I see you, and it all falls apart..."

The tone of her voice changed again as she sang the chorus, selling the song to the empty room, the emotion evident in her voice.

"Me and my heart we got issues,  
Don't know if I should hate you or miss you,  
Damn, I wish that I could resist you,  
Can't decide if I should leave you or kiss you.  
Me and my heart we got issues, issues, issues.  
We got issues, issues, issues."

Her voice softened once more, as she imagined Jesse stood in front of her, she could see him so clearly, she smiled softly and closed her eyes as the words left her mouth.

"Why fight it, can't hide it  
Truth is I think I like it,  
Confusion, illusions  
Still I don't know which way to go…."

The music cut out and Rachel could hear a single clap in the distance, she squinted her eyes as she noticed Mr Schuster walking towards her. She blushed and turned away, walking over to her work quickly.

"That was very nice Rachel," Mr Schuster was walking across the stage; she busied herself in picking up her notes as he crouched down beside her.

"Was that part of your Glee assignment?" he asked, Rachel sighed and shook her head.

"No, it's just something I'm working on, as an actress it's important to draw on life experiences so you can convey your emotions with conviction when performing on stage," she spoke quickly and Mr Schuster smiled and shook his head.

"You don't have to bottle everything up, you know Rachel," he said softly.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about," she mumbled, not daring to look her teacher in the eye.

"Rachel, I know Jesse hurt you, but after listening to that song it's clear you still have feelings for him," Rachel lowered her head and sighed quietly.

"I'm a performer Mr Schue, a song doesn't mean anything," he nodded and sighed,

"Well, if you ever want to talk, my door is always open, or if you don't want to talk to me, there's always Miss Pillsbury," he smiled at her as she nodded her head slowly. He stood up and headed towards the door.

"Mr Schue!" he stopped and turned to face her,

"Thanks," she gave him a soft smile, as he bowed his head and continued to walk out of the auditorium.

Rachel took a deep breath and let out a quiet sigh; she picked up her iPod and went back to her assignment piece. She wouldn't be getting distracted again.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm really sorry for the delay on this update, I've had problems finishing this chapter. It started off really well, but then I discovered that my grandad had passed away and it completley threw me off. So that's why it's taken me so long to get this chapter published, even though I know it's not my best work, it moves the story on nicely and gives me much more to work on in the next couple of chapters.  
Thank you for all of the reviews and alerts on this so far, as always I really appreciate them, they always make me smile. Please let me know what you think. Although I'm sure most of you will be happy at the end of this chapter :)**

That's all from me - other than I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my grandad, to who I was very close to, and will always be in my thoughts.

That evening Rachel found herself sitting outside alone on her porch swing. She'd brought her iPod with her, as well as her notebook. She'd played this song so many times now; the lyrics were already etched into her mind. She wanted to make sure that she was fully prepared for her rehearsal so she could present them when everyone arrived later. She'd worked out the staging perfectly, she knew exactly what lighting to use throughout the number. She'd now moved her attention to their costumes, she had a rough idea of what she wanted them to wear - she wanted something casual and comfortable to perform in, but also something that would allow them to stand out in competition, she'd have to discuss this with Brittany later, as costume design were not something the boys had a strong interest in.

"Hey," Rachel let out a sharp shriek as she slammed her book shut, as she jumped to her feet, she felt her breath get caught in her throat as she witnessed Jesse stood in front of her.

"J-Jesse?" he gave her a crooked smile and nodded, "What're you doing here?"

He shrugged as he leant on the frame surrounding the swing; Rachel watched every movement that he made.

"I don't know," he admitted,

"I thought you'd gone for good," Rachel whispered, her voice shaking as she spoke

"I wasn't sure if I'd be welcome," he mumbled, "Given the circumstances."

He found himself unable to meet her gaze, opting to look anywhere other than her face. Rachel nodded slowly, and the two teens fell into silence. Rachel was feeling more confused than ever, she'd been wishing to see Jesse for the last couple of days, yet now he was here she wasn't sure if she could talk to him. Jesse was also at a loss as what to say to her. He'd been the talk of Vocal Adrenaline since he'd returned, everyone had noticed a change in his behaviour; he wasn't nearly as focused on his musical numbers as he should have been, especially this close to competition. Every time he opened to his mouth to sing, he'd remember how passionate Rachel was when she was singing, he'd then remember her hurt expression when she'd discovered the truth. It killed him seeing her like that every time he closed his eyes. He'd contemplated calling her the last few nights, he'd sit with his phone in hand until the early hours simply staring at her number on the screen of his phone. He just didn't have the courage to go through with it Jesse St James, star of Vocal Adrenaline was afraid. He missed her; he missed her more than he'd missed anyone in his life, and he wasn't afraid to say it aloud. He wasn't even sure how he'd arrived here today, all he remembered was leaving Glee rehearsals early – something he'd never done before – and driving until he eventually stopped and realised that he was sitting outside of Rachel's house.

"So...erm...how have you been?" Rachel stuttered as the words failed her. Jesse shrugged and finally lifted his eyes to meet hers.

"You know," Rachel nodded; if anyone knew the feeling of loss and confusion then it was her. She'd been grieving over Jesse just as much as he'd been grieving over her. The pair returned to their previous silent state as Rachel nervously sat back down on the porch swing, quickly shifting her belongings out of the way. Jesse watched her then noticed her iPod sitting on top of her notebook.

"What were you listening to?" he asked,

"Just something for Glee," Rachel explained, Jesse nodded his head slowly and smiled

"Oh yeah, you've got the assignment on Friday. How's it going?" Rachel rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

"Seriously? You've all this way, just to discuss Glee?" Jesse smiled and shook his head, carelessly running a hand through his hair.

"I guess not," He laughed, "I'm just not sure what we're meant to do here," Rachel nodded and smiled as she caught his eye. The pair shared a moment, not of awkwardness, or of despair, but of content. He slowly moved forward and took a seat next to her; they sat facing each other a small smile appearing on their lips. Rachel was the first to look away, a flush of pink appearing on her cheeks as she peered out into the distance. Jesse mimicked her actions, and comfortably sat back on the swing, his hand accidently covering hers. They both felt the spark instantly; Rachel glanced down at their hands and noticed how perfectly her hand fitted inside of his. She then lifted her head and gave him a soft smile.

"I've really missed you Rachel," he whispered.

"I've missed you to," she finally admitted, not only to him but to herself. Jesse cautiously leant forward and Rachel reacted instinctively by mimicking his actions, she closed her eyes as his breath tickled her skin, their faces were inches apart when Rachel snapped her eyes open and placed her free hand on his chest. He opened his eyes and gave her a quizzical look.

"Jesse, I can't do this," she whispered, their faces still inches apart. Jesse nodded and sat up, his attempt to hide the hurt in his eyes failed to go unnoticed by Rachel

"I understand," he sighed, turning away from her, she sighed and dropped her shoulders and gently placed her hand on his cheek and turned it back to face her.

"It's not that I don't want to," she said quickly, "It's just after everything that has happened; I really don't want to rush into things,"

"So, what do you want to do?" he asked, Rachel pulled away and shrugged, her head resting on the back of the swing.

"I don't know," she mumbled, "I guess I'd like...I mean..." She let out a frustrated sigh as her words continued to fail her.

"A new start?" Jesse suggested, Rachel nodded and smiled at his suggestion. She couldn't help but remember Santana's words to her. The whole reason the girls had given her a makeover in the first place was to give her a new start without Jesse in her life. That thought couldn't have been further from her mind right now.

"I'd like that," Rachel said quietly, her eyes not leaving his. She felt Goosebumps as he gently traced the outline of her face with the tips of his fingers. Then without any warning he dropped his hand from her face and held it out in front of him, she watched him with a confused expression.

"Hi, I'm Jesse," Rachel grinned and held out her own hand.

"Hi, I'm Rachel," Jesse clasped her hand gently, then for the first time in days, they started laughing with each other as they both recalled doing this before. As Jesse sat back on the swing he pulled Rachel with him, placing his arm around her. They sat quietly, content with each other's company, with no awkwardness or nervous tension. It was perfect, without thinking he began gently running his fingers up and down Rachel's arm, sending shivers through her body each time they made contact with her skin.

"You've done something different to your hair," he commented, noting that her usual straight hair was now styled in soft curls that made her look more beautiful than ever.

"The girls thought I needed a new look," she explained, not bothering to lift her head from his shoulder.

"I like it," he whispered, before kissing the top of her head.

As time passed, the pair sat talking, discussing normal things, neither of them venturing into talk of Shelby - who for the record hadn't even mentioned Rachel since Jesse's return to Carmel. They knew they still had things to discuss, but that could wait for another day, for now they were just going to enjoy their time together.

The young couple were so entranced by each other that they'd failed to notice that Matt had arrived for rehearsal and was now walking towards her house.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." Rachel whispered, Jesse nodded and let out a quiet sigh.

"I know, it would be so much easier without all of the drama, and that's just our respective Glee Clubs," Rachel agreed silently knowing that none of this was going to be easy for her.

"Rachel?" Immediately Rachel jumped away from Jesse, and stood up. She let out a small sigh of relief when she realised that it was Matt stood in front of her. He shrugged and eyed Jesse who was still sitting on the swing. He knew that he was due a beating from the McKinley Glee Club, if Mr Schuster hadn't intervened that day then they would've rearranged his face for sure. He knew that, he wasn't stupid, but he was prepared to take any beating if it meant he could have Rachel back in his life.

"I...Jesse was just..." Rachel sighed as her words failed her. Matt arched an eyebrow as Rachel threw him a pleading look.

"I get it Rachel," he nodded.

"Please don't tell Finn and Noah," she pleaded, Matt closed his eyes momentarily and nodded, keeping a secret from his friends wasn't something he really agreed on, especially after the Quinn fiasco last semester, but he agreed this once to keep a secret for Rachel.

"Thanks," Jesse finally got up from his seat, stepping forward and holding his hand out to Matt, who simply eyed him and shook his head. Jesse stared as Matt leant forward so his was inches from Jesse's.

"I'm not doing this for you, Rachel obviously likes you, although I've no idea why," he growled in a way that would have made Puck proud, Jesse lowered his head once more as Matt continued, "But hurt her again, and I guarantee that we'll hurt you so bad that you'll be singing higher than Kurt for the rest of your life. Am I clear?" Jesse gulped and nodded as the two young men straightened up, eyeing each other as they did so. Matt was the first to look away, turning to face Rachel again.

"The others will be here soon, I doubt Finn will be happy to see him here," Matt explained, not even bothering to acknowledge Jesse's presence any longer than he had to. Rachel nodded and Jesse soon realised that their time together this evening had come to an abrupt end.

"I'm not ready for everyone to find out about us yet," she sighed, "They were furious at you for what you did, to get them to accept our relationship now, with Regional's coming up, it's just not an option. I'm sorry," Jesse nodded and pulled her forward, kissing her forehead gently.

"I'll accept that," he whispered. He pulled away and Rachel lifted her eyes to meet his, they gave each other a soft smile before Jesse turned on his heel and began walking away from the house. Rachel watched him as he walked away, and couldn't help comparing it to the last time he'd left her and how painful it had been. This time she felt contentment, she knew that she'd be seeing him again. She glanced once more in Jesse's direction before turning her attention to Matt who was standing at the other end of the porch. She smiled as she approached him, placing her hand on his arm as she neared him, he lifted his gaze and smiled at her.

"Thank you," she started, "I know I asked a lot for you to keep this from everyone, but I really appreciate it," Matt smiled and placed his hand on top of hers.

"I just want to see you happy again, for some reason Jesse makes you happy, so I won't prevent that," Rachel smiled and Matt pulled her into a hug. Her hair tickled his nose as he inhaled, allowing the strong scent of strawberries to take over his senses.

"You're a good friend Matt, I'm lucky to have you," Rachel whispered, Matt smiled as he pulled away. They soon settled into their usual routine, Rachel discussing her ideas for the project, whilst Matt listened to her, adding his own contributions every now and then.

"Up, down, up and clap. Step, turn, step and clap!" Brittany shouted later into the rehearsal as they continued to block through the choreography, Rachel had been very impressed with what they had come up with in such a short of amount of time. Rachel was pleased to be given a different dance partner for this performance, Brittany partnered Mike as usual, and Rachel partnered Matt whilst Finn took centre stage. She was amazed how easy Matt was to dance with, he was focussed throughout the routine, and also made Rachel feel safe when she was lifted, a complete turnaround to Finn who had always been a little shaky and uneasy on his feet.

"Okay everyone, let's take five!" Rachel smiled as everyone looked as if they were beginning to flake, her hostess skills kicked in immediately as she headed upstairs to the kitchen. As she prepared a selection of refreshments she was taken by surprise to see Finn creeping up behind her.

"Oh, hi Finn," she smiled; he nodded in her direction and leant against a counter next to him.

"I was just wondering whether you needed any help,"

"Oh, erm, well I suppose you could help carry that tray," Rachel smiled gratefully as she gestured towards the tray on the end of the counter, stacked with potato chips and soft drinks.

"It feels weird, you know, us not dancing together," Finn explained, noting Rachel's confused expression, Rachel shrugged and stood opposite him.

"It's not so bad," she smiled, "The number works like this, you're great up there," Finn gave her his usual smile and shrugged.

"I guess, I just miss hanging out with you," Finn shuffled his feet as embarrassment took over his body, Rachel blushed and bit her lip.

"We should take these downstairs, the others will be waiting," She really didn't want this conversation with him right now, Finn was great friend to her, he had been for a while, but she knew he wanted more, he'd wanted more ever since her relationship had started with Jesse. She felt as if she couldn't talk to him as easily as she used to be able to do, he seemed to expect too much from her now, she'd been really careful not to get to close to him since her break up with Jesse, hence her friendship with Matt. Finn sighed and picked up the refreshment tray before following her back into the basement. He sighed as Rachel instantly ran over to join in with Brittany's conversation.

"I was hoping I could run some costume ideas by you," Rachel grinned; the boys rolled their eyes as expected whilst Brittany clapped her hands with delight.

"I was thinking, maybe fifties inspired costumes?" Rachel suggested, "We could wear dresses, like in Grease," She noticed Brittany's confused expression and felt the need to explain, "The boys could wear leather jackets, like they did for their mash-up?"

The boys suddenly found themselves listening to the girl's conversation.

"So we don't have to wear anything fancy?" Finn asked, Rachel shook her head and Brittany rolled her eyes as Matt and Mike high fived each other.

"So what do you think?" Rachel asked, ignoring the boys and turning to face Brittany.

"I think we've got to go shopping," she giggled, Rachel grinned, as Brittany started discussing colours and hair styles.

"Up, down, up and clap! Step, turn, step and lift!" Mike and Matt counted in time the music as they worked through the lifts for Rachel and Brittany, Finn watched them and felt a pang of guilt as he watched Matt hold her tight, his hands all over her It had been bad enough having to watch Jesse touch her, now he was going to have to put up with Matt touching her. He'd already lost one girl to a so called friend; he wasn't prepared to lose another one.

"How about we leave it for tonight?" he asked, as Matt gently placed Rachel back on the ground. She frowned and shook her head.

"Finn, we really need to block through the choreography tonight, it will make rehearsals a little easier throughout the week," she stated, her tone calm but firm. Finn glanced at the others for support, but for the first time ever, they all agreed with Rachel, they wanted to stay until the dance was complete, at least then they could add the vocals to the rehearsal tomorrow. Brittany gave Finn an innocent smile as Matt and Mike shrugged, Finn sighed loudly and nodded.

"Fine. Let's run it from the beginning,"

As the rehearsal finally came to an end, everyone had agreed that they had made a really good start with the routine, Rachel had agreed for Brittany to take her shopping the following afternoon, in the hope of finding some appropriate dresses for the routine. Brittany had also stated that she was going to help her find a few essential items of clothing, which every girl should have in their wardrobe. Rachel had taken some convincing, as she'd seen some of Brittany's fashion choices, and was sure that some of them were not designed for comfort.

"Great rehearsal guys," Rachel smiled as she stood at her front door.

"Thanks for letting us rehearse tonight Rachel," Mike smiled as he helped to peel his girlfriend from Rachel's grasp. Rachel giggled as Brittany eventually let go and waved to Rachel.

"See you tomorrow Rach?" Finn asked hopefully,

"Erm, yeah sure," she smiled, not really committing to anything, but still giving a friendly response. As everyone walked away from Rachel's house, Matt stopped and turned around to face her.

"Fancy a ride to school in the morning?" he asked,

"Yeah, that would be great, thank you Matthew," he nodded and hurried to catch up with the others. Rachel waved to them one last time before closing the door behind them. She smiled happily to herself as she walked into the lounge, she was grateful that she had chosen to rehearse in the basement, at least that meant that she didn't have a huge amount of cleaning to do now, for now she could chill out a little before her dads arrived home. As she rested her head on the back of the sofa, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was just allowing the comfort of the pillows to engulf her, when she heard a knock at the door. She rolled her eyes and stood up, silently groaning that she'd disturbed during the first time she'd had chance to chill out that day. As she opened the door, she gasped and grinned.

"Jesse? I thought you'd gone home?" He shrugged, and gave her a crooked smile. A familiar sensation ran through her veins as she saw him standing in front of her, looking just as perfect as ever,

"I needed to see you one last time," She wasn't really sure what had happened next, had she kissed him, or had he made the first move? Did it really matter anymore? His lips were on hers, making her breathless. She was initially stunned, but it didn't take her long to respond to the kiss. The kiss was full of so much passion; they hadn't been together for such a long time, and it showed. The kiss was full of so much need and desire. She was very aware of her senses as they seemed to go into overdrive as Jesse's tongue explored her mouth even more, Rachel's legs felt weak as he pulled her body into his. Submitting herself to him, her small frame moulded against his strong body. Rachel ran her fingers through his soft hair as she stepped backwards, pulling him into the house. He smiled as he closed the door behind them, as she led him into the lounge. The pair collapsed onto the sofa, their bodies, still entwined together.

Rachel's dad's pulled up in their driveway, aware that they're alone time had to come to an end at some time. They always made room in their schedules once a week to enable them to spend time together as a couple. As they got out of the car, they slammed the doors behind them, causing the two teens inside the house to briefly pull apart.

"My dad's," Rachel explained, slowly Jesse sat up and the pair began straightening out their clothes. They remained in their seated position, as Rachel curled herself up underneath his arm.

"Rachel?" she turned her head and turned to face her dad who was stood in the doorway of the lounge,

"Oh hi daddy," she smiled sitting up, "How was your date?"

"Very nice thank you. Why didn't you tell us Jesse was coming over?" Rachel sensed the tone and glanced at Jesse.

"I wasn't sure myself," she mumbled,

"It was my fault Mr Berry," He smiled, Rachel watched as he oozed charm, "I just called by to see Rachel, I should've asked your permission beforehand." Rachel watched as her daddy eyed Jesse for a moment, remembering how devastated his daughter had been a few days ago, due to – he assumed by Jesse. He opened his mouth to say something just as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Let them be James, remember when we were their age?" Rachel smiled gratefully at her dad, who simply nodded and gently squeezed his husband's shoulder. Rachel jumped to her feet and guided Jesse to the door, not really wanting to experience the awkward tension anymore.

Jesse opened the door, before turning back to face Rachel. The pair exchanged smiled, pleased that they hadn't been caught in their passionate embrace. As he pulled her into another tight embrace, Rachel let out a content sigh.

"Goodnight," he whispered, kissing her forehead and turning to walk away. Rachel watched him leave, waving as he gave her a final smile.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for all your kind messages after the last chapter, they really meant a lot to me and made me smile through everything going on around me at the time. Things hav calmed down a lot now although I have found it difficult to write for this recently, but after finding out that I have sucessfully passed my second year at university a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders, the next few chapters have been carefully planned out and I'm really looking forward to writing them.**

This is a filler chapter, but is needed to help build future chapters, so I hope you can read this chapter with an open mind. Please leave me some comments, and I promise I'm going to try and update this more regularly. Thanks for sticking with me so far and I hope you continue to enjoy.

Rachael x.

* * *

Rachel had never experienced anything like this in her entire life, she didn't realise that something so simple on paper would turn out to be such hard work. She had naively thought that shopping for costumes would be relatively easy, taking probably an hour at the most, giving her chance to get home and get ready to meet Jesse, but Brittany had other ideas. She clasped Rachel's hand and excitedly pulled Rachel into yet another store.

"Brittany, is this really necessary?" Rachel asked, "We've already seen several dresses that would be perfect to perform in, I really liked the pale pink ones in the last store, or maybe the yellow ones..."

Brittany rolled her eyes and grinned at Rachel's inexperience, "Rachel, that was only three stores, there's an entire mall for us to search through," she explained, as if it was common knowledge, maybe it was, to everyone except for Rachel, "Any anyway, we're not just looking for costumes, we're looking to update your wardrobe,"

Rachel silently agreed as she followed Brittany around the store. The truth was, she was more than a little distracted, Jesse had sent her message during rehearsal, asking if he could take her out that evening. Rachel had of course agreed, but was spending more time thinking about her date with Jesse, rather than her shopping trip with Brittany, who insisted on picking up every item of clothing that she deemed necessary for Rachel, apparently, all ideas of costumes forgotten for the time being.

When Brittany was happy with her selections, she clasped Rachel's hand and pulled her in the direction of the changing rooms, pushing her inside with a huge pile of clothes.

"Now try each one on and I want to see what you look like," Brittany ordered as she took a seat outside. Rachel rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling to herself, she'd been envious of girls her age, watching them skip from store to store, giggling as they tried on new clothes, experimenting with new styles. So although, she'd found this a whole new experience, and found that it was so much more hard work than she'd thought, she was delighted to be finally taking part in regular activities for a teenage girl.

As she held up some of the outfits that Brittany had picked out for her, she grinned not really knowing what to think, the clothes were cute, but there was nothing unique about them, no animals in sight, but she decided to go with it and follow Brittany's example. The first item of clothing she picked up was a pair of tight fitting jeans; she shrugged and pulled them on after slipping out of her skirt. As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, she was overly surprised with what she was seeing; the jeans were perfect for her, showing off her figure in all the right places. She let out a satisfied grin and slipped into one of the shirts that Brittany had selected for her, a tight fitting black t-shirt with small silver stars in the bottom left corner, at least this would be able to show her personality in some way or another. She took a deep breath and swung the door open, and stepped outside; Brittany grinned and jumped to her feet.

"Rachel, you look amazing!" She squealed as she circled Rachel, "I still can't believe that you don't own a single pair of jeans," Rachel shrugged as Brittany continued to circle her.

"Jeans don't really say superstar do they?" Rachel smiled, Brittany furrowed her brow and Rachel shook her head, not really wanting to explain her meaning.

"Okay, next one!" Brittany ordered pushing Rachel back into the changing room, Rachel giggled as she slipped into the next outfit, a black skirt and pale pink shirt, a modern twist on Rachel's usual attire. She stepped out receiving the same response from Brittany, this continued for another 3 more outfits, but each time Rachel was growing a little impatient. When Rachel emerged, wearing the sixth outfit, Brittany once again jumped to her feet and shrieked, Rachel just sighed and allowed Brittany to pass on her comments. Instead, Brittany stood directly in front of her, folding her arms in the process.

"You're not really into this, are you?" she asked, Rachel shrugged and looked to her feet, she desperately didn't want to hurt Brittany's feelings, after all, she had been so good to her recently.

"I'm grateful really, it's just..." Brittany stared as Rachel searched for the right words, "I...I have plans later..."

"Oh my god, of course!" Brittany clapped her hands and jumped up and down, once again filled with excitement, Rachel watched her, baffled by her friend's response.

"I can't believe I didn't notice it before, you've got a date haven't you?"

"I...how did you...?" Rachel stuttered.

"I knew this make over was a good idea!" Brittany continued, ignoring Rachel, "It's Finn isn't it?"

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, her brown eyes open wide, and Brittany grinned and shook her head.

"Of course it's not Finn," Brittany giggled, "Although he's totally in to you. Oh my god, it's Matt isn't it?"

"I...Wait what?" Rachel asked, taken back by Brittany's suggestion.

"This is awesome! You could double date with me and Mike," Rachel furrowed her brow as she watched Brittany delve into her plans for double dating.

"I've never been on a double date before," Brittany stated, I mean, I've asked Mike about it, but we don't really know any other couples, well, apart from Quinn and Puck, but they're not technically dating, so that doesn't really count, does it?" Rachel blinked quickly and shook her head.

"I guess not," she said quickly

"That's what I thought!" Brittany grinned, "Mike's best friend is dating my best friend, how awesome is that?"

Rachel shrugged and once again opened her mouth to speak and again was silenced by Brittany who seemed to be caught up in her own thoughts to even notice what Rachel was thinking.

"Now go get changed, we need to find you something to wear for your date tonight,"

Rachel was once again pushed into the changing room, a little stunned by what had happened only minutes before. Brittany thought she was dating Matt, Rachel hadn't denied it, but she hadn't told her the truth either, hadn't she learnt after all the secrets with Quinn and the baby? Everyone thought she was mad for still having feelings for Jesse, there was no way she could tell them where she was really going tonight, she let out a frustrated sigh and fumbled in her purse for her cell phone. She searched for Matt's number, and bit her lip as she began typing out a short but efficient message.

'_Brittany thinks we're dating,'_ She pressed send and quickly began getting changed, placing each item of clothing perfectly back onto its hanger.

'_What? Why does she think that?' _Rachel sighed as she read the message, she vowed she was never going to have a secret relationship again, it had been such a mess when she had kept Jesse a secret last time, and here she was doing it all again. Now she'd dragged Matt into it, and he was just too sweet to say no.

'_I'm going out with Jesse tonight.'_ She felt so guilty, using him like this, but it was her only option, she cared too much for her friends, she didn't want them getting into any trouble, and that's exactly what they'd do if they found out Jesse was back on the scene, and as for Jesse, she knew he'd never be the same again if they ever got their hands on him, as far as New Directions were concerned, he was a dead man walking. She quickly ran a comb through her hair as she waited for Matt's response.

'_Gotcha. If anyone asks, you was with me tonight, we went to the movies.'_ Rachel smiled gratefully as she typed out one final message.

'_Thank you x.'_ She placed her phone back into her purse and opened the door, where Brittany was waiting impatiently.

"Finally, what was taking you so long?" she giggled as she pulled her back into the store, "Now come on, we have to get you ready for your date!"

Brittany had insisted on not only helping Rachel find the perfect outfit for Rachel to wear that evening, but she had also insisted on helping her with her hair and makeup.

"Now Rachel, Matt asked you out after the makeover, he liked what we did for you the other night," Brittany stated as Rachel emerged from the bathroom, her hair still wet. Brittany grabbed her hand and pushed her into a seat directly in front of the mirror.

"Really Brittany," Rachel sighed, "Nothing over the top okay?" Brittany rolled her eyes and nodded as she tugged brush through Rachel's hair, Rachel winced as she sat and watched as Brittany set to work. Brittany had been so excited as she rushed through the mall searching for the perfect outfit for Rachel, even though Rachel had stated that she wanted to keep everything low key. Brittany had eventually relented and settled for the first outfit that Rachel had tried on during their shopping trip. Rachel was reasonably pleased, although it wouldn't have been her first choice, but she was quickly learning that her first choice was not always the right choice. Brittany finished the outfit with a pair of black open toe heels, again different than Rachel's normal flat shoes but she couldn't deny that they complimented her outfit perfectly. She sat patiently as Brittany fussed over her, chatting happily about one thing after another as she continued to fix Rachel's hair and makeup. Rachel wanted the natural look, but Brittany wanted to infuse some colour to her skin, in contrast to her outfit. Eventually the girls had reached a compromise, Brittany agreeing to keep everything neutral and natural looking, with the exception of her eyes – Brittany was determined to make them stand out.

"You look fine Rachel!" Brittany insisted, sitting in front of her, Rachel smiled nervously at her, a little on edge as she was unable to see her reflection in the mirror.

"We're only going to the movies Brit," Rachel stated for the third time that evening, "I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard,"

Brittany nodded her head in a way that shown Rachel that she understood exactly what Rachel was on about, she gave her one of her innocent smiles before standing up and finally showing Rachel her reflection in the mirror.

Rachel was momentarily speechless as she admired Brittany's work, Rachel had never been one to use a lot of makeup, she felt like she had to embrace her beauty and be pleased with what she had been given, she knew deep down that she wasn't ugly, even though her peers had made a point of targeting her for her looks for as long as she could imagine, but overall she was always quite pleased for how she looked. Now Brittany had sprinkled a touch of magic and Rachel was overwhelmed, she'd never seen her eyes like this before, they looked so smoky and alluring, but not in an obvious way. Rachel turned to face Brittany, searching for the right words to say to her friend.

"Thank you!"

"It's nothing really, but it just screams first date!"

"I really don't know what to say," Rachel admitted as she stood up to admire her appearance once more, she loved how the jeans accentuated her body in just right way, the heels gave her a little extra height, perfect she thought when walking alongside Jesse. After all the protests she'd had with Brittany earlier that evening, she now realised that she was eternally gratefully for her help. After struggling to find some words that would truly express how grateful she was, Rachel leant forward and engulfed Brittany in a hug, which of course, Brittany happily returned.

"This is good for you Rachel," she whispered, Rachel frowned and pulled away, arching her eyebrow at her friend, "You know after the whole Jesse thing, Matt is just the kind of guy that you need right now,"

"Right...yeah..." Rachel nodded giving Brittany a nervous smile, grateful that the blonde failed to pick up on Rachel's awkwardness.

"So what time are you meeting him?" Brittany asked, Rachel jumped and glanced at her watched, instantly beginning to panic, Jesse was due to arrive anytime now, how had they gotten so distracted?

"Erm...actually...he's picking me up, he should be here soon." she glanced at her watch once more and Brittany nodded, a smile of understanding spreading across her lips.

"I can take a hint," she giggled, "I'll leave you to it, you don't want me here acting like a third wheel," Brittany began making her way downstairs, Rachel silently cursed as she quickly followed after her friend.

"Oh no Brit...I didn't mean..." Rachel sighed, chasing after her,

"Rachel relax," Brittany smiled, turning to face Rachel as she reached the foot of the stairs, she reached out and pulled Rachel into yet another hug.

"Enjoy yourself tonight Rachel," Brittany stated as she opened the front door wide, "Don't forget to call me later, I want details," Rachel rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Bye Brittany," she smiled as the blonde turned to leave, Brittany waved at Rachel before happily skipping away from the house. Rachel rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her.

So things hadn't exactly gone to plan so far this evening, but it had been an experience for her. Rachel hadn't had many dates before in her life, but for the few that she'd had, she'd always had to get ready on her own, it was actually nice having Brittany there to help her prepare, help to calm her nerves and be the friend that Rachel had always longed for. She sighed happily as she checked her watch; stunned at the time she darted back upstairs to collect her purse. She noticed her reflection in the mirror once again and let a small smile escape her lips; she flicked her hair over her shoulder and gave herself a quick spray of her favourite perfume. She heard a knock on the door and her heart skipped a beat, she resisted the urge to squeal before heading back down stairs. Taking a deep breath to steady herself Rachel opened the door, and there he was, looking as perfect as ever.

"Hey," he said quietly, his eyes meeting hers. "You look amazing," Rachel smiled and immediately felt the heat rush to her skin.

"Thank you," she whispered, "You look nice to," He did, effortlessly so. There was no denying that he could carry off the casual look, better than most people she knew. He looked amazing in a pair of blue skinny jeans with a grey t-shirt with a matching jacket.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked, Rachel blinked, realising that she'd been staring at him for the entire time. She nodded and held her purse tightly in her hands, Jesse gently clasped her hand and Rachel closed the door behind her.

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**Coming up next...The Date!  
I was going to have the date in this chapter, as well as Rachel and Brittany shopping, but I thought it deserved a chapter of it's own!**


	11. Chapter 11

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**Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I wanted to make the date just right. I wanted to capture Jesse's elaborate side, and this strikes me as something that he would do. This chapter is a little shorter than previous chapters, but I didn't want to overload it. Let's just focus on St Berry goodness, we all know we love them.**

The song used in this chapter is So Close by Jon Mclaughlin. It's a beautiful song and definatley one of my all time favourites, and something that I think works really well for these two. If you haven't heard it before, then I suggest taking a trip to youtube, its worth it.

Thanks once againg for all of your comments and alerts, they always make me smile and are a huge boost when trying to complete a chapter. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter, as I'm sure that this is what the majority of you have been wanting to see for a while now. Hopefully I've done it som justice.

Rachael x

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"So erm...how was your day?" Rachel asked as the young couple walked through the gates of Lima's park, Jesse's hand clasped securely around hers. Lima wasn't the warmest place in America, but as the spring was quickly becoming summer, the temperature had lifted considerably giving them the chance to embrace the opportunity to get some fresh air, which they both agreed would be great for their vocal chords.

"Exhausting," Jesse stated, Rachel rolled her eyes at his blunt answer,

"Care to elaborate?" she giggled.

"I've been thrown into the deep end at Vocal Adrenaline," he started, "Of course; I'm a brilliant performer, so I can handle it. But Shelby is acting like a slave driver; she thinks I've already missed too many rehearsals prior to Regional's."

"Oh," Rachel's body tensed as she heard her mother's name mentioned, Jesse didn't seem to notice.

"I'd forgotten how strict she actually was, Mr Schuster is a pushover compared to her, and you have no idea how tough she can be,"

"Yeah..." Jesse stopped still and realised exactly what he'd said and cursed himself for being so stupid, Shelby was still a delicate subject for Rachel, and here he was talking about her as if she was just an ordinary Glee Club director - such an amateur mistake.

"Rachel, I am so sorry, I didn't think, I just..." Rachel gave him a soft smile and shook her head.

"It's fine Jesse, really. It's going to take some time to get used to it," Jesse nodded as she continued to smile at him, "But I like hearing about your day, it makes things seem normal,"

"Okay sure, how about you tell me about your day then?" Rachel rolled her eyes as the couple started walking again, not entirely sure where they were going, but for now they were happy to just stroll around and embrace each other's company.

"There's nothing to tell really, just an ordinary day in the life of Rachel Berry," Jesse laughed and shook his head.

"Come on, you're almost as dramatic as I am, surely there's something that happened today,"

"Nope," Rachel smiled biting on her lip.

"So, when did you start wearing jeans?" Jesse smirked as they sat down on the grass, near the memorial fountain, Rachel shrugged as she watched the children splash around in the water.

"Don't," she giggled, "Brittany is trying to update my wardrobe," Jesse nodded and placed his arm comfortably around her, pulling her closer towards him.

"And I'm guessing that you didn't tell her you were coming out with me tonight," he said quietly, as Rachel placed her head on his shoulder,"

"Not exactly," Rachel mumbled biting her lip; Jesse sensed the tone and kissed her head softly.

"So what did you tell her?" he asked cautiously.

"I didn't tell her anything...she just...she just assumed..."

"She just assumed what exactly?"

"She thinks I'm going out with Matt tonight," Rachel closed her eyes, anticipating his reaction, to her surprise all she could hear was his infectious laugh. Opening her eyes slowly, she sat up and stared at him, smiling slightly as he continued to laugh.

"What's so funny?" she asked,

"You and Matt?" he laughed as Rachel nodded, "Seriously, the guy never talks, then again, she's a takes being a dumb blonde to a whole new level, she's never really been that observant has she?" Rachel frowned as she pushed him as far away from her as possible before she stood up.

"They're my friends, Jesse!" she stated through gritted teeth, Jesse rolled his eyes as Rachel made her traditional diva exit.. He groaned as he jumped to his feet and began chasing after her, he was perfectly aware that people were staring at him as he continued to call her name, despite her ignoring his pleas. He quickened his pace, reaching out and clasping his hand around her arm.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked in protest, her small frame powerless against his, without saying another word his lips crashed down onto hers, stopping her protests immediately, all thoughts of anger forgotten for the time being as Jesse let go of her arm and allowing her to wrap them softly around his neck, he rested his hands on her lower back and pulled her closer to him, her body perfectly moulding against his. She moaned quietly into the kiss and Jesse smiled, pulling away from her, holding her at arm's length.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, Rachel frowned, he'd used his magic on her again, she was going to have to be extra vigilant around him from now on.

"So you should be," Rachel mumbled

"Give me a break here Rachel," He sighed leaning in and resting his forehead against hers, "I'm trying not to mess up again, it must come naturally to me I guess," Rachel smiled and looked up at him, sighing quietly.

"You're not doing so bad," she whispered, "Maybe I did overreact a little,"

"I'm just not used to referring to them as your friends,"

"Yeah, I'm still finding it a little weird to," she giggled wrapping her arms tightly around him. Jesse let out a content sigh as she inhaled deeply, allowing the fresh scent of strawberries to take over his senses. He'd missed this. After everything that they had been through, this was the one thing that allowed him to forget everything and remember how perfect they were for each other.

The rest of the evening went a lot smoother, it was a date that all girls dreamt about and Rachel was finally living it. This didn't even compare to their first date, although she did enjoy the Wiggle's performance on the night, but this – this was something entirely different. There was an air of romance in the air, and she embraced it fully. She and Jesse spent the evening outside, their fingers entwined together as they listened to the music playing quietly around them occasionally singing along with it, the performers in them never failing to make their appearances, they talked quietly as Jesse placed his arm protectively around her, the young couple seemingly caught up in their own private bubble away from prying eyes. Rachel noticed that the song had changed and couples began gathering on the makeshift dance floor, Jesse smiled as he got to his feet, Rachel turning her gaze to face him again.

"Shall we?" he asked quietly, holding his hand out to her. Rachel smiled and gently nodded her head, placing her hand inside of his. Jesse led her to the middle of the floor, before stopping and turning to face her. He gave her yet another smile and she blushed, as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Jesse placed his hands on her lower back and pulled her closer towards him, Rachel let out a quiet gasp as the gap closed between them, before following his example and placing her arms around his neck and smiling up at him. Jesse smiled back at her and as she stood on her toes he craned his neck so he could meet her lips. Rachel instantly melted against him, and tightened her arms around him. Yes, as dates went, this was definitely one of the better ones.

"_You're in my arms  
And all the world is calm  
The music playing on for only two  
So close together  
And when I'm with you  
So close to feeling alive"_Rachel lifted her head from Jesse's chest as she heard him singing quietly, she smiled as he locked his eyes on hers, he spun her around quickly, catching her off guard, and clasped his hand tightly around hers, before placing her left hand on his shoulder. Before she knew what was happening he was guiding her around the dance floor, Rachel kept her eyes focused solely on him, everything else becoming a blur around her.

"_A life goes by  
Romantic dreams will stop  
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew  
So close was waiting, waiting here with you  
And now forever I know  
All that I wanted to hold you  
So close"_She blushed as he spun her round again, slowly this time, their fingers never ever breaking contact. As Rachel came out of the spin, she kept her back against Jesse's chest, yet her eyes still managed to find his. Jesse gently clasped his hand around hers again, and placed his free hand on her waist, as they continued to dance across the floor. Rachel was perfectly aware that a crowd had gathered around them, all eyes were on her, and for once she didn't care, she only had eyes for Jesse right now, she didn't feel like embracing her audience.

"_So close to reaching that famous happy end  
Almost believing this was not pretend  
And now you're beside me and look how far we've come  
So far we are so close"_

Jesse spun Rachel around again and for the first time since they had started dancing, their fingers finally lost contact. In that precise moment, Rachel felt lost, she struggled to find Jesse's eyes as she continued to spin, he followed her slowly, he hands reaching out to catch her as she stumbled slightly after he had broke the contact between them. He pulled her closer towards him again, returning to their first position. Rachel smiled at him and rested her head onto his shoulder, breathing in his strong scent that she had become so accustomed to. Time seemed to stand still for her, and all of the other remaining couples seemed to have disappeared as Jesse quickened the pace at which they were moving. Jesse let go of Rachel one final time as she spun out, and as Jesse pulled her back into him, he tightened his grip and lifted her into the air. Rachel blushed as she placed her hands on his shoulders, her eyes still locked firmly on his. Jesse turned around and Rachel finally stared at the crowd that were watching them, everyone smiling at them, and their impromptu performance. Jesse carefully lowered Rachel to the ground and kissed her hand before letting it go. She smiled at him, as he bowed and then started circling her slowly.

"_How could I face the faceless days  
If I should lose you now?  
We're so close  
To reaching that famous happy end  
And almost believing this was not pretend  
Let's go on dreaming for we know we are  
So close  
So close  
And still so far"_Jesse approached her slowly as the song came to an end, he wrapped his arms around her securely, Rachel closed her eyes instinctively as she began searching for his lips, returning to their own private world again. Only to be interrupted by the applause that their audience insisted on giving them. Rachel smiled as she unwillingly broke the kiss; Jesse smiled down at her and clasped her hand in his, before turning to face everyone who had gathered to watch them. He gave them a small bow before pulling Rachel away from everyone.

"That was beautiful,"

"What a lovely couple they make,"

"She's one lucky lady,"

"How romantic!"

"He's a keeper alright."

Rachel smiled as Jesse walked through the crowd, she couldn't help overhearing what people were saying about them, and she couldn't help agreeing with them. Jesse was certainly a keeper, and she was definitely in no hurry to let go of him.

"Jesse, that was beautiful," Rachel whispered when they were finally away from the crowd, he shrugged and smiled at her.

"You deserve it," he said simply.

"No one has ever done anything like that for me before," she confided in him, he nodded and clasped both of his hands over hers. "Anyone would think that you had that planned all along,"

"I wanted to show you how important you are to me," he smiled as Rachel blushed, "I wanted to show you in a way that you'd understand,"

"Thank you Jesse," Rachel smiled and stretched up to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. She returned to her previous position and sighed, glancing cautiously at her watch.

"It's getting late," she sighed,

"Do you want to go home?" he asked, she closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Not really, I wish we could stay here forever, it's been such an amazing evening, I don't want it to ever end,"

"I think we have to," Jesse murmured, "I'd hate to upset your dads. After all, you get grounded, then we wouldn't be able to do this again for a while,"

Rachel smiled and nodded.

"I guess not,"

"Come on Cinderella, let's get you home,"

"Jesse wait!" Rachel said quietly, pulling him to a halt, "Can we please take the long way home?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey Guys!**  
**Sorry for the delay on this, but it's been a hard chapter to write, especially after all the fluff in the last chapter. I'm glad you all liked it though, it was a lot of fun to write. This chapter is different though, and for the record, I'm not a Finn hater - I actually quite like the guy - but I think his response here is pretty reasonable, and I could totally see him reacting like this in the show. **  
**I'm not sure how many more chapters I've got left of this, but I've decided that the Glee competition will be in the next chapter, and then it'll start following the episode trends ie. Funk and Journey. Thanks again for all of the reviews and alerts on this, as always they make me smile and really help me to continue writing this. I'll try not and leave it for so long next time.**

**Hope you enjoy**  
**Rachael xx**

**P.S Just a shameless plug, if you haven't done so already, I'm currently writing another Glee fanfiction, it's called 'International Directions' and it's a cast fic, but with some focus on Rachel and Puck - Sorry no Jesse in that one. **

* * *

The next morning, Finn was weaving through the busy hallways of McKinley high, he wasn't sure why, but he'd woken up with a whole new outlook on life. He knew he hadn't necessarily been the best of friends towards Rachel since she first embarked on her relationship with Jesse, and then when they broke up – well he could've acted a little better than he did. He knew that now. Rachel had always been so nice to him, even when he was stringing her along at the beginning of the year, when he was busy with Quinn. Rachel had waited for him, and done everything in her power to be a good friend to him. He wasn't blind to the awkward atmosphere that had settled between them over the last week, but he sure as hell wanted to lift it. As he pushed the door open to the auditorium, he was pleasantly surprised to see Mike and Brittany already inside. They really were full of surprises this week, the biggest surprise of them all was their sudden close friendship with Rachel, he hadn't seen that one coming at all. However, if their new found friendship meant that things would be better for Glee in the long run, then he couldn't really complain, and rehearsals had been going really well for their group.

"So have you heard from Matt? How do you think the date went?" Finn rolled his eyes as he heard Brittany talking in excited tones, Mike stretched out and shrugged.

"Guys don't really talk about things like that, but no, I haven't heard from Matt since

yesterday at rehearsals,"

"I tried calling Rachel last night, but she didn't answer." Finn stopped in his tracks, sure he'd noticed that Matt had gotten awfully close to Rachel since the breakup, but he thought that Rachel was wise enough to steer clear of another relationship, especially while everything was so raw for her. He could feel the jealousy rising in his stomach, he made a quick getaway as his head frantically tried to figure out exactly what he had heard. He stormed back into the busy hallway, shaking his head frantically – Rachel and Matt – What the hell? He cursed himself for being so naive, he'd always thought that he and Rachel would eventually get together, especially after everything that had happened between them over the last year, his mum had always believed in soul mates, and deep down so did he. Sure his relationship with Quinn had been okay, but even before "baby gate" had come out, he knew he didn't love her. He wasn't sure whether he did love Rachel, but he certainly had strong feelings towards her, that was important right?

Rachel meanwhile was seemingly walking on air, last night had been amazing, for the first time in days she had fallen asleep with a smile on her face. Jesse had already called her that morning before he went to school and it seemed that he was just as eager as she was to meet up again. As she busied herself with arranging her locker, selecting her books for her first few lessons, she heard someone rest against the lockers behind her. She turned around slowly and smiled when she saw Matt's friendly face.

"Morning," he grinned,

"Oh, hello Matt," Rachel closed her locker and the pair began slowly walking through the busy hallway, ready to begin their rehearsal.

"So, how was last night? You look happier, so I take it things went well?" Rachel nodded felt her cheeks turn a shade of pink, Matt had always been super observant.

"It was perfect. Thank you for covering for me last night," Matt shrugged and casually placed an arm around her shoulder.

"It was nothing, but for the record, it was the best fake-date I've ever had," Rachel stared up at him, before the two of them erupted into a fit of giggles. Rachel turned and shut her locker and Matt took her books out of her hands and swung his free arm around her shoulder, she smiled noting how perfectly the two fitted together. She'd never had a best friend before, Finn had come close but he'd hurt her a lot in the past, although Matt had always been extremely quiet and kept himself to himself he'd never played a part in hurting her and in the last week he'd been brilliant with her. At this present moment in time, Rachel felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Matt was also finding the whole situation with Rachel a little strange, he'd had girlfriends in the past, he'd also had friends who were girls, but he'd never actually felt a bond like this with anyone before. Brittany and Santana were great, as were Mike and Puck, as far as friends went but Rachel – well she was different. She had always intrigued him from a far, he admired her determination and her apt for life, after everything that had happened with Finn and baby gate she'd still managed to keep her head up and remain strong. It was Rachel that had held the Glee club together when everything they had worked towards at Sectionals had crumbled right in front of their eyes. The last week had been horrific, seeing her fall apart at the seams had been especially painful.

"I'm really looking forward to performing tomorrow, aren't you?" Rachel asked as the pair turned the corner next to the auditorium.

"Yeah, I mean, we could actually win this thing," he agreed.

"I totally agree..." Rachel trailed off when she saw Finn standing in front of them, a pained expression on his face. Matt stood still, aware that his arm was still around Rachel's shoulders and that he was holding his book.

"Oh, hi Finn," Rachel said quietly.

"Hi," Finn awkwardly placed his hand at the back of his head and tried to avert his gaze from the pair, he sighed and he continued to fight his own personal battle.

"We were just..."

"I heard you two went out last night." Rachel's eyes widened, gossip had always spread like wildfire in this place, and she knew Brittany was to blame for this. Damn that girl!

"Yeah, that's right," Matt said, remaining calm, something which Rachel was extremely grateful for. Finn nodded and stared at Matt before turning to gaze onto Rachel.

"Maybe we should join the others, they'll be wondering where we are," Rachel smiled attempting to walk forward, Matt's arm fell from her shoulders as she moved forward, he followed after her, Finn stayed glued to the spot.

"Are you coming Finn?" Rachel asked as Matt brushed past her, he sighed and shook her head.

"Rachel, can we talk please?" he asked, Rachel bit her bottom lip and sighed quietly, she glanced in the direction of the stage and noticed that Matt was already talking to Mike and Brittany – who was now talking animatedly about their 'date' now doubt. Rachel nodded and turned to face Finn.

"Sure," Finn smiled nervously and the pair headed into an empty classroom, Rachel walked inside first, perching on a nearby desk. Finn closed the door behind them and walked inside, stopping in front of them.

The room was silent, an eerie silence, Rachel glanced around the room, glancing at Finn every now and again, Finn doing the same, only not being as subtle as Rachel.

"So what did you...?"

"What's going on Rachel?" Rachel frowned and stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You and Matt, where did that come from?" he asked, confidence rising now. Rachel continued to frown, although she struggled to look at Finn for too long.

"I'll have you know, that Matt is a lovely young man and has been the perfect gentleman in the last week towards me, he asked me out last night and I accepted, there's no harm in that, is there?" she asked.

"No, I guess not," Finn answered shaking her head, "After all, you're keeping up Brittany now aren't you?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rachel asked finally focusing her gaze on him.

"Well a perfect record is important to her, she dated Kurt for crying out loud!" Finn was shouting now, Rachel had never witnessed him like this before, it unnerved her.

"What has that got to do with me exactly?" she asked, desperate to keep calm, and not rise to shouting like Finn had done.

"Me, Puck, _Jesse_!" he spat out the last name with utmost disgust, "Now there's Matt, who's next, Mike, Artie? Maybe Mr Schuster, of wait, you've already tried that haven't you?"

Rachel jumped up from her seated position and stood as tall as she could, although she was still tiny compared to Finn's tall frame.

"That's completely absurd Finn!" Rachel snapped, pointing her finger at him, "I do not have to explain myself to you, and if you remember correctly, you finished with me, it was not the other way around!" she turned on her heel and headed towards the door.

"Rachel, I'm sorry, it's just a lot to take in." Her hand hovered over the door handle, and she willed herself not to turn around and face him.

"I just want things to return to the way they used to be between us," Rachel sighed and slowly turned around to face him.

"Finn, that is never going to happen, you should know that by now." She said softly, "Too much has happened between us, however, I do value your friendship very much."

"I do to; I just wish...I just wish you would've told me about it first, especially after everything that happened with Jesse," Rachel slowly walked towards him and placed her hand on his arm.

"Matt is just a friend Finn," she said quietly, "A good friend, and I'd like it very much if you could be the same,"

"If he's just a friend, then why did you choose to talk to him about Jesse, why not come to me?" Rachel dropped her hand and sighed.

"Things were awkward enough for me, without talking to ex about my problems with my current boyfriend, don't you think so?" Finn gave her one of his trademark grins and nodded, Rachel smiled up at him and she knew from that moment on that things were going to be okay between them. She had known for a while now that the air needed to be cleared between her and Finn and now that it had been shifted, their friendship had been given a whole new lease of life.

"So why does Brittany think that you and Matt are dating? Didn't you explain the whole friendship thing to her?" Finn was smiling now and Rachel absently bit her bottom lip. She didn't want to hurt Finn anymore, but she wasn't sure whether their friendship could take anymore lies. Finn stared her as she contemplated her response, she stood in silence for a matter of minutes and Finn was beginning to feel uncomfortable, he hated silent Rachel. It just wasn't her.

"Well, she worked out that I had a date last night..." she trailed off and began playing with a loose strand of hair. Finn stared at her suspiciously as she began shuffling her feet against the floor, this was definitely non-Rachel behaviour.

"Rachel?" he asked, as she refused to meet his eye. Rachel sighed loudly and finally lifted her head.

"Fine!" she started, "Brittany worked out that I had a date, she then started getting excited at the idea of Matt and I dating, I simply didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise," She gave him one of her megawatt smiles that he had become accustomed to, however this time he didn't buy it.

"Rachel, did you really go to the movies with Matt last night or not?" Rachel's smile soon disappeared and she stared anywhere but his face.

"Of course I did," she mumbled looking behind him. Finn rolled his eyes and clasped Rachel's hand, causing her to look at him.

"Why do I not believe you?" he asked, his eyes searching hers for the truth, Rachel stared into his eyes and sighed quietly, she shook her head and Finn dropped her hand, taking a few steps backwards.

"Then, who did you go out with?" he asked quietly, Rachel sniffed quietly and shook her head. Finn wasn't supposed to find out like this; no one was even supposed to know yet, she felt so helpless as everything began falling apart again. She wanted to tell him the truth about Jesse and for everything to be okay, but she knew deep down that it was never going to happen like that.

"Jesse," she sniffed, barely audible.

"Rachel, how you even consider going out with that jerk again, after what he did to you?" Finn snapped running a hand through his hair, he turned away from her and walked to the other side of the room. He leant against the window ledge and Rachel remained rooted to the spot, she watched as Finn began pacing across the room. Every now and then he would turn to face her and just shake his head, she hated the guilt that she was feeling for being happy.

"Finn, I can explain..." she started

"No Rachel, you can't." He snapped silencing her, "I thought you were smarter than that, after everything that he has put you through, you're still seeing him?"

"Finn, please," Rachel sobbed, "If you just listen to me,"

"I think you've said enough," Rachel shook her head as he refused to look at her for any longer, he marched in the direction of the door, Rachel finally moved from her spot and reached out to touch him, Finn flinched at the contact and quickly pulled his hand away from her.

"Finn, please don't go," she sobbed, pleading with him one more time, as he opened the door.

"Rachel, just – just leave me alone," he slammed the door behind him and Rachel was left alone. What had started out as a brilliant day had just taken a very sour turn and she just didn't know which way to turn anymore.


	13. Chapter 13

**So here's the next chapter, and you're finally seeing the Glee competition as everyone takes to the stage. I had a really strong idea for Rachel's performance and how I wanted it to look, so I hope you're able to see that for yourself and the song choices for the other groups, I thought were appropiate and kind of funny ;)**

Thanks for all of the alerts and reveiws, as always they really make me happy and give me a purpose to keep on writing. I've finally planned the ending to this now, so there are probably only four or five chapter to go now, that's quite sad really, I've really enjoyed writing this fic, especially with it being by first Glee Fanfiction, and I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I have writing it. But Like I said, there are still four or five chapters to go, so we're not quite at the end yet. I'm really looking forward to writing Regionals, as there is going to be a fair bit of drama coming your way :D.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the last line is a sign of things to come in the next chapter ;)

Rachel xx

* * *

The day of the Glee competition had finally arrived and everyone was high spirits. Rachel and Finn were still not talking to each other, something that hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the group. Rachel sat next to Matt and Brittany, with Finn on the opposite side of the room as everyone took to the stage to perform their numbers. Quinn and her group took to the stage first, performing the very ironic song '_Like A Virgin'_ Rachel rolled her eyes as Quinn took the lead vocals, she glanced around the room and noticed that everyone was able to see the finny side of this performance, although joking aside, Rachel knew that this performance wasn't nearly good enough to compete at Regional's, they'd be eaten alive, and she knew it. But she kept her comments to herself, knowing that she wouldn't come across very well if she were to share her views with the rest of the group. The song came to an end and everyone clapped politely, Will smiled and stood up congratulating them on their performance and work throughout the week.

"Well done guys, brilliant use of irony there," he laughed, Santana and Puck smirked, and Quinn blushed, it was at then that Rachel realised that maybe it wasn't exactly Quinn's first choice of song.

"Thanks Mr Schu, we figured the judges would like that," Puck mumbled as he ran his hand over his head, Santana rolled her eyes again and returned to her seat.

"So, who's next," Mr Schuster said quickly, changing the subject, Kurt raised his hand eagerly and Mr Schuster gestured to the stage as Puck and Quinn slowly walked over and sat next to Rachel and Matt. Rachel smiled at Quinn who smiled gratefully at her.

"So, we decided to do a mash up of one of America's biggest artists." Kurt announced proudly, "As you can see Mercedes and I have worked extremely hard on these costumes and it would be a waste if the judges didn't get to see them at Regional's." Rachel rolled her eyes at his subtle hint, she craned her neck to sneak a glance at Mr Schuster who simply nodded. Rachel scanned the group in front of her, Artie looked extremely uncomfortable, the only person who didn't seem to be embracing his costume at all.

"Lady Gaga is an icon, and we thought it would be extremely appropriate if we honoured her in our performance at Regional's."

"Well, let's see what you've got guys," Mr Schuster grinned as the music started playing. Rachel was extremely impressed by their mash up performance, she watched as Kurt embraced the song. _'Bad Romance' _was an instant hit with the group, and as it merged into _'Just Dance'_ Rachel wasn't surprised to see everyone up on their feet dancing along with the music. Even Artie seemed to be really enjoying himself now, regardless of how he may have initially felt Mercedes and Kurt were spot on with their vocals, and their choreography was something that New Directions had ever seen before. Rachel was very aware that she was now facing some tough competition; she exchanged nervous glances with Matt and Brittany, both of them feeling as anxious as she was.

The song came to an end the room erupted into applause, Kurt and Mercedes grinned and bowed in front of everyone, Tina and Artie who were still not as confident as the other member of New Directions, simply smiled and returned to their seats.

"That was awesome guys!" Mr Schuster shouted happily, "Well done, you've obviously been working hard this week."

"We told you Mr Schue, we got this," Mercedes grinned, Rachel gulped and put on her show face. She wasn't going to show anyone her fear, performing was her thing and she wasn't prepared to let anyone take the spotlight away from her. Rachel stood up and led her group to the stage, she exchanged smiles with Mercedes and Kurt as her group got into position.

Finn and Rachel locked eyes momentarily and Finn was the first to look away, hurting Rachel even more, she shook her head and walked over and stood in front of Matt her back facing the audience, Brittany and Mike doing the same on the opposite side of the stage. Finn took a deep breath as he took centre stage.

"_Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time,  
I feel alive.  
And the world is turnin' inside out - yeah  
And floating around in ecstasy"_

The girls turned around, as Matt and Mike joined in with Finn.

_"So don't stop me now"_

The girls smiled and joined in with the boys.

_"Don't stop me_

_'Cause I'm having a good time I'm having a good time"_

The music kicked in again and Finn jumped forward as the others continued with their set choreography.

"_I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky's  
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity  
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva  
I'm gonna go go go  
There's no stopping me"_

Rachel grinned as Matt released his grip on her allowing her to step forward in line with Finn, although she and he were not on good terms right now, she was a professional and knew that she could perform alongside him as if nothing had ever happened between them.

"_I'm burnin' through the sky yeah  
Two hundred degrees  
That's why they call me Mrs Fahrenheit  
I'm traveling at the speed of light  
I gonna make a supersonic man out of you"_

She looked out in front of her and noticed that the rest of New Directions were on their feet, dancing along with them, just as they had done for Kurt and his performance, she grinned again, maybe things were not as certain as she had thought. Matt, Brittany and Mike ran forward, so they were just behind Finn and Rachel and everyone broke out into the set choreography, and although Finn had initially had problems with this in rehearsals, he had chose now to perform it well, a blessing in disguise for Rachel.

"_Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time  
I'm having a ball  
Don't stop me now  
If you wanna have a good time just give me a call  
Don't stop me now' Cause I'm having a good time  
Don't stop me now Yeah I'm havin' a good time  
I don't want to stop at all"_

Everyone was belting out the lyrics and as Rachel glanced at Matt she beamed proudly at all of their hard work over the last week, despite all of her drama. Finn fell back into line and Rachel quickly moved to the end of the line next to Mike.

"_I am a rocket ship on my way to Mars  
On a collision course  
I am a satellite, I'm out of control  
I am a sex machine ready to reload  
Like an atom bomb about to  
Oh oh oh oh oh explode"_

Rachel weaved her way through the line, dancing with everyone separately, Brittany was jumping up and down and Rachel grinned as she joined in with her, before moving on to Mike who spun her around, as she came out of the spin she found herself inches away from Finn. He glanced momentarily in her direction before continuing to dance, they danced back to back with each other, and Rachel was pleased as she quickly moved onto Matt who picked her up and spun her around as she came to the end of her solo.

"_Oh, I'm burnin' through the sky yeah  
Two hundred degrees  
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit  
I'm traveling at the speed of light  
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you"_

Matt placed Rachel firmly on the ground as Finn took the lead once again, this time he walked forward and addressed the audience a feature that Rachel had taught him just after Sectional's. Rachel and Matt grinned at each other as they jumped up and down, clapping in time with the music.

"_Don't stop me don't stop me  
Don't stop me hey hey hey  
Don't stop me don't stop me  
Ooh ooh ooh, I like it  
Don't stop me don't stop me  
Have a good time good time  
Don't stop me don't stop me ah  
Oh yeah"_

Everyone began chanting together and Rachel was surprised when the rest of New Directions started joining in with them, she grinned and everyone moved to the edge of the stage before taking a dance interlude, Matt and Rachel danced together, as did Mike and Brittany, Finn just moved across the stage, jumping up and down as he did so, if Rachel didn't know any better than she would've sworn that he'd been on the vitamin D again.

"_Oh, I'm burnin' through the sky yeah  
Two hundred degrees  
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit  
I'm traveling at the speed of light  
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you"_

For the first time in the song, Rachel and Finn came together to sing, yet they were not singing to each other, the fact that they were on opposite sides of stage helped matters as they sang out to the audience, Rachel took a second to glance in Finn's direction and noticed that he wasn't even making an effort to look in her direction, she subtly rolled her eyes and continued with the song.

"_Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time  
I'm having a ball  
Don't stop me now  
If you wanna have a good time  
Just give me a call  
Don't stop me now  
Don't stop me now  
I don't want to stop at all"_

The song finished and the room instantly filled with applause she beamed proudly and took her bow, before turning to hug each member of her group, the exception being Finn of course. Mr Schuster jumped to his feet and grinned at his students.

"Guys, that was incredible, I had no idea you were planning something like this," Rachel beamed and glanced at Finn.

"Actually Mr Schuster, it was Finn who chose the song," Finn shuffled his feet and awkwardly glanced at Rachel.

"Well, whoever chose the song, it really paid off. It was a brilliant performance, it summed up everything that Glee is about,"

The bell sounded loudly and everyone scrambled around to collect their belongings, Rachel smiled hopefully at Finn, but he ignored her and hurried out of the auditorium. Rachel sighed and Matt patted her back.

"It's going to take some time Rachel," he whispered,

"I know, I just wish he'd understand like you do," she smiled.

"I think he always believed that you two were going to end up back together some day," Matt explained, Rachel nodded and sighed. If Finn hadn't have dumped her to find his inner rock star than she would never have met Jesse, she wasn't exactly blaming Finn for everything, but he really consider that in future, she thought bitterly.

As Matt and Rachel were heading out of the auditorium they heard Mr Schuster's voice behind them.

"Rachel, could I talk to you for moment please?" Rachel nodded and smiled as she said goodbye to Matt. Will caught up with her and the pair walked in silence to his office. Rachel nervously sat down in front of his desk and Will closed the door behind her. He placed his books on his desk and perched himself on the edge.

"Rachel, I received a message from Shelby Corcoran," he sighed, Rachel's eyes widened in horror, she tried to keep her composure as she nodded calmly.

"What did she want?" she asked quietly.

"She didn't have your number, she wants to make contact with you Rachel," Rachel shook her head firmly and stood up.

"That's not my problem," she stated bitterly.

"I didn't pass on any information Rachel, it wasn't my place," Will added calmly, Rachel sighed and turned to face her teacher.

"I don't know what to do Mr Schuster," she admitted,

"I know her methods were not correct, but do you want to get to know her?" he asked, Rachel shrugged and bit her lip.

"I-I don't know, I mean I thought I did, but when I think about how much she hurt me just to get her own way, I'm not sure if she's worth it," Will nodded and Rachel sat down again.

"I understand Rachel, I can't tell you what to do, but if I were you, I'd consider all of your options." He smiled softly and Rachel was grateful for his support, although he friends knew exactly what happened, she wasn't sure if she could discuss everything with them, even Matt who had been a great confidant recently.

"Thank you Mr Schuster," she smiled, getting to her feet. He nodded and watched as she exited his room. He only hoped that he had done the right thing by passing on Shelby's message, she was a very sensitive girl; he didn't want to push her over the edge.

When Rachel returned home that evening she quickly made her way to her room, she placed her bag on the floor next to her bed and began searching in her bin. It had been on her mind all afternoon, making it extremely difficult for her to focus on her classes, when she found her desired item she sighed in frustration; she had forgotten that she had trashed it that night. She rolled her eyes and opened her desk drawer looking for a pencil, then she spent the next hour placing all of the tape back into its original seal, it was a very slow and frustrating process, but when she had finished she was overcome by a feeling of accomplishment. She opened up her tape player and carefully placed the cassette into its holder. She took a deep breath before hitting the play button, she closed her eyes as Shelby's voice filled her ears.

"Hey baby..." She kept her eyes closed tight to prevent her tears as she heard Shelby sing – singing to her. When the song had finished she took a deep breath and picked up her phone from her bag, she punched in a number and pressed dial.

"Hey, I need your help with something, it's kind of important..."


	14. Chapter 14

**So here's the next chapter.**

I know that people have been wanting to see some Rachel and Shelby interaction and this is my version of things. I'm not a huge fan of Shelby anyway, I think her treatment of Rachel in the TV series was awful, this is how I think things should have been. Sorry for the treatment of Jesse in this chapter, but it's building up for the final few chapters now so everything is happening for a reason. You'll see why soon, I promise!

Thank you for all of the reviews and alerts, they always make me smile. I know I keep saying this in every chapter, but I really mean it, they give me the encouragement to carry on writing this. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and hopefully it will show how Rachel has grown with the supporty of her friends.

Rachael x

* * *

Rachel, Matt, Brittany and Mike crept through the deserted hallways of Carmel high, praying that they wouldn't be spotted - Rachel hadn't exactly worked out her excuses yet, she still wasn't sure what she was doing here, she just felt like this is where she needed to be.

"This is so exciting!" Brittany grinned as she skipped through the hallway, Mike rolled his eyes and hurried to catch his girlfriend.

"Does Jesse know that you're here?" Matt whispered as they watched their friends hurry of in front, Rachel smiled and shook her head.

"Things are awkward enough don't you think?" she smiled, "Besides, I've got you guys to help me," Matt nodded and the pair of them ran in front to catch up with their friends. Rachel had never once broken the rules, she knew that she shouldn't be stalking the halls, and if they were caught then she was sure that the four of them would be disqualified from competition, and that would be terrible, but she couldn't think of a better way of doing this. She still wasn't sure whether she actually wanted to speak to Shelby, she just wanted to see her again – properly this time – Rachel thought that if she saw her again in different circumstances then she may feel different, she still didn't have the courage to just walk straight up to the woman who had caused her so much pain.

"In here," Rachel hissed, pulling her friends into the auditorium, the house lights were out, but there were voices coming from the stage, Rachel knew that Vocal Adrenaline were rehearsing, she'd learnt their schedule when she and Jesse had first started dating. The four friends crept down the stairs, Mike taking extra care to silence Brittany.

"You think they can see us?" Matt asked,

"If they see us, will we have to go to jail?" Brittany asked, stopping suddenly and turning to face Mike, with a serious expression on her face. He shook his head and leant forward to kiss her forehead. Rachel gestured at her friends to take a seat as they watched the gruelling rehearsal take place. Rachel spotted Jesse and felt a sense of warmth wash over her, she smiled fondly as she found herself focus on him.

"Rachel, cover your eyes," Brittany whispered, Rachel turned to face her with a curious expression, Brittany rolled her eyes and smiled at her, "Jesse is down there," Rachel giggled and shook her head as she stared towards the stage again. They were in really good shape, even after having to rework their numbers to accommodate Jesse, Rachel sighed as she heard another familiar voice from the edge of the stage.

"They look really good," Mike whispered, Brittany and Matt nodded slowly.

"Okay, okay enough!" Vocal adrenaline came to a standstill and Shelby walked onto to the stage, Rachel's breath caught in her throat, Matt squeezed her hand and Brittany and Mike watched on anxiously.

"You guys aren't getting it," Shelby stated, Rachel watched in awe, as much as she hated to admit, she was exactly like this woman – performance wise anyway. Rachel still maintained that she wouldn't do anything so hurtful just to get what she wanted. "Do I have to demonstrate?" There were a selection of cheers from various members as Shelby took centre stage, the rest of Vocal Adrenaline taking seats at the front of the auditorium.

"'Funny Girl' E flat," Shelby ordered, Rachel gasped and Matt turned to face her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, momentarily she pulled her eyes away from Shelby and shrugged.

"She's – She's amazing," she whispered, slightly in awe, "It's exactly what I would've done," Matt smiled at her, touched at her sudden connection with the woman she was supposed to call mom. Shelby started singing softly, and the music connected with Rachel in a way that it had never before, she was unable to tear her eyes of this woman, a woman she barely knew, the woman who had carried her for the first nine months of her life. Brittany smiled at Mike and rested her head on his shoulder, obviously comfortable in her surroundings. Rachel slowly stood up from her seat, Matt watched her and Brittany slowly lifted her head.

"Rachel, come back! They might see you, I don't want you to go to jail," Brittany whispered, Mike shook his head and clasped her hand as she attempted to follow her, Rachel didn't hear anything, only the sound of her mother's voice, Matt sighed quietly and watched as Rachel quietly made her way towards the stage.

Rachel took a deep breath as she neared the stage, she could feel eyes on her, she knew that Jesse would be watching her, she willed herself to not turn and look for him, or for her friends, she couldn't deal with any distractions, instead she continued to move forward. The song came to an end and Rachel cleared her throat.

"M-Miss Corcoran," Rachel said quietly, Shelby blinked and stared in Rachel's direction, all of her confidence had disappeared. "You wanted to see me?" Shelby nodded slowly and immediately dismissed Vocal Adrenaline. Jesse quickly rose from his seat and ran over to Rachel.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered, Rachel smiled meekly and shrugged.

"I just felt like I needed to be here," she admitted,

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked, Rachel smiled gratefully and patted his arm.

"I think I'll be okay, Matt is around here somewhere," Jesse pulled her into a hug and Rachel inhaled deeply, "Thank you Jesse," he kissed her forehead gently before walking away.

"Do you want to come to my office?" Rachel jumped as she heard Shelby's voice coming up behind her again. Rachel nodded and silently followed Shelby through the empty hallway, she ignored all the glances that Shelby sent her way, keeping her focus on her feet the whole time.

Shelby eventually stopped and unlocked the door she gestured for Rachel to go inside, which she did, only to stand awkwardly in front of the desk. Rachel felt like a child who had just been disciplined, when deep down she knew that had done nothing wrong.

"You can sit down," Shelby smiled as she took the seat behind the desk. Rachel nodded and took the seat opposite her, she took a deep breath and her confidence came flooding back to her.

"Why did you do it?" Rachel asked bluntly, Shelby blinked and stared at her daughter who had all of her attention focused purely on her.

"I...erm..."

"Didn't you think of the consequences? Or were you only thinking of yourself?" Shelby frowned as she watched her daughter glare at her. This whole situation didn't feel right, when she'd imagined the pair being reunited she had always imagined the pair running into each other's arms, hugging each other and telling each other that it was going to be okay now that they had each other.

"I just wanted to get to know you, I wanted you to know who I was," Shelby said quietly, Rachel sighed and shook her head.

Rachel shook her head and stared at her 'mother' she was nothing like the image of a mother that she had always had in her mind. A mother was someone you could talk to when you needed someone, someone who would hug you and tell you that everything would be okay – Shelby was none of those things. She may be her biological mother, but she definitely wasn't her mom.

Meanwhile, Jesse had managed to catch up with Matt and the others. Mike and Brittany stared at him, Matt rolled his eyes as Jesse approached them, he smiled at them, a smile that gradually disappeared as he neared them and took in Matt and Mike's icy expression. Brittany however, beamed at him and waved slightly. Mike rolled his eyes and took his girlfriend's hand in his.

"Rachel told me that you were around," Jesse stated, Matt nodded and glared at him.

"Look, I know what I did was wrong, but I really do care about Rachel, and I know you do to. She never shuts up about you three now," Jesse smiled fondly and gradually Matt's icy exterior began to melt.

"Do you really love Rachel?" Brittany asked, Mike rolled his eyes and smiled fondly at her, Matt stared incredulously at Jesse awaiting his response. Jesse nodded and smiled at the blonde in front of him.

"More than anything," Brittany grinned and clapped her hands excitedly. "It's not looking to good for you is it Matt?" Matt and Jesse laughed and Matt shook his head.

"No, I guess it's not Brit,"

"Did Rachel say why she'd come here?" Jesse asked Matt.

"She just said she needed some answers." Jesse nodded and the four teens continued waiting for Rachel, none of them caring how long she was going to be, only caring about her state when she reappeared.

The two women sat in utter silence, Rachel didn't have the strength to walk away just yet and Shelby didn't have the energy to keep explaining herself. Rachel crossed her arms and let out a quiet sigh, she glanced nervously around the room and found herself admiring the huge selections of trophies that Vocal Adrenaline had won over the years. She bit anxiously on her lip and took a glance at Shelby who was staring down at her desk, the similarities between the two women were uncanny, neither of whom were willing to accept this just yet.

"Did you ever regret it?" Rachel asked, finally breaking the awkward silence, Shelby lifted her head and stared at her daughter.

"Yes, then no," she closed her eyes and sighed, "Then so much."

Rachel nodded and glanced around the room again, she dropped her gaze and stared at her hands.

"When did you realise it was the right time for us to meet?" Rachel asked, stared of the answer, still hurt that her decision didn't seem to matter in any of this.

"I saw you sing at Sectional's, you were extraordinary," Shelby smiled, "You were me," Rachel lifted her head and stared at the woman in front of her. Rachel smiled nervously at her and sighed, not knowing what to say next. She'd wanted answers, she just didn't the right questions to ask.

"I've missed so much," Shelby stated, resting both of her elbows on her desk, Rachel stared at her and noticed the tears welling up in the older woman's eyes. Rachel looked away, willing herself not to start crying as well.

"How do you feel?" Shelby asked, Rachel shrugged and turned her attention back to Shelby.

"Empty," she admitted, "I don't feel anything." Shelby's eyes widened as she stared at her daughter in disbelief.

"How can you say that?" Shelby asked quietly.

"I've dreamt about this day for so long, but all I can think of is all of the hurt I've gone through just to get here, I don't think I'll be ever able to get passed that," Rachel stated,

"I'm so sorry Rachel," Shelby sighed, Rachel nodded and stood up from her seat.

"Goodbye Shelby," Rachel whispered walking to the door.

"You don't understand how hard it was for me!" Shelby shouted causing Rachel to freeze in her position, "All my life, I've been wondering what would have been, when I saw you on that stage, I knew, I knew I had to get to know you!" Rachel turned around slowly.

"What about what I wanted?" Rachel asked quietly, "I've never been popular or had boys falling at my feet, and I'd accepted that, because I knew who I was."

"I just want to get to know my daughter," Shelby stated, standing up and approaching her, Rachel shook her head frantically.

"You don't have the right to call me that!" Rachel shrieked, her emotions rushing to the surface threatening her, up until now, calm exterior. Shelby stepped back quickly, her eyes widened as Rachel began to fall apart.

"I'm sorry," Shelby whispered.

"I should never have come here." Rachel stated, turning around and opening the door, "This whole meeting was a mistake,"

Rachel quickly dashed out of the office and began searching for the nearest exit, she desperately needed to breathe, the fear of braking down in front of Shelby was enough to keep the going, she just wanted air. She wanted to find Matt and her friends, and have them tell her that she'd be okay, and that she needn't come back here again, she wanted to find Jesse and have him hold her in his strong arms. She wanted to forget that this whole ordeal had ever happened.

"She's been in there ages Mike!" Brittany whined as she leant against the hood of Matt's car, Mike nodded and pulled his girlfriend into a hug, exchanging nervous glances with Matt.

"Do you think she's okay?" Mike whispered as Matt shrugged. Jesse sighed, he'd watched the friends talk, none of them really bothering to include him, except for Brittany, but she talked to cats and birds, so she didn't really count. He desperately wanted to see Rachel, he wanted to make sure that she was okay, he didn't want to see her go through any more pain, especially when he played such a big role in actually getting her here, something he regretted every day.

"Jesse, what are you doing?" Giselle, Vocal Adrenaline's female lead, shouted as she walked across the parking lot, Jesse rolled his eyes and put on his best show face.

"Giselle, what are you still doing here?" he asked, she rolled his eyes and stared past him and focused her attention on the three members of New Directions.

"I had some things to take care of, what are you still doing here, and with them?" she sneered, Jesse turned to face Matt, silently pleading with him, Matt shrugged and turned to face Brittany and Mike, although Jesse made Rachel happy, Matt still wasn't his biggest fan, he was a good friend of Rachel's and always would be now, but that didn't mean that he had to trust Jesse St James. Jesse frowned and turned to face Giselle again.

"I noticed them hanging around in the auditorium," Jesse lied, Matt rolled his eyes and Brittany and Mike frowned.

"They probably wanted to see a real show choir rehearse," she laughed, "Come on Jesse, we're having a team meeting at Michael's house, after all, you have a lot to catch up on," she took his arm and started pulling him away, Jesse rolled his eyes and walked away with her.

"I thought we were a real show choir," Brittany asked, Matt and Mike laughed and shook their heads. "Look, here's Rachel!" Brittany shrieked. Matt turned around and ran towards her.

"Are you okay? How did it go?" he asked, bombarding her with questions.

"Where's Jesse?" Rachel asked, immediately noticing his absence.

"Oh, he had something to do with Vocal Adrenaline," Matt smiled, walking her towards the car. Brittany hopped of the hood and engulfed Rachel in a tight hug.

"Oh, that's okay," Rachel smiled, "I just want to go home now anyway, I think it's time my dad's learnt the truth," Matt nodded and the four of them got into the car. Rachel sat in the front seat and stared out of the window for the duration of the journey.

"Does this mean that you've got to go to jail?" Brittany asked, Rachel turned her head and smiled at her friend.

"What?"

"Well you got caught, and now you need to tell your dad's the truth, if you go to jail, then we can't perform at Regional's!" Brittany shrieked, Rachel giggled and shook her head.

"No Brit, I'm not going to jail,"


	15. Chapter 15

****

**So here's another chapter. I know it's been a while since the last one, but I've been busy preparing for my final year of uni, so obviously that had to come first. But I've also been getting excited about Glee starting again this week, so I thought I should post another chapter in celebreation of this good news :D**

It's longer than the other chapters, as you'll probably notice, and I'm sure that once you have read this chapter, you can probably guess what is going to happen in the next chapter, but please stick with it because I promise all is not how is seems. After this there are probably only 3/4 chapters left :( So let's just enjoy the St Berry goodness while we can.

**Thanks for all the reviews and alerts so far, you've all made me smile. I hope you enjoy this chapter. And here's to the final few chapters of 'Without You'**

Rachael x

"So, I told my dad's the truth, they took it surprisingly well," Rachel smiled as she curled up on her bed talking to Jesse on the phone. Rachel had dreaded telling her dad's about everything, she'd really wanted to clean up the mess that had been created and not have to drag them into it. But they'd reacted really well and been more supportive that Rachel could have ever imagined, they were shocked that she'd been through all of this on her own, and commended her on how well she seemed to have coped. Her dad had threatened legal action against Shelby, but Rachel had managed to persuade him against the idea, she'd have to live with what she had done for the rest of her life, and that was punishment enough. Her dads had given her extra attention all evening, forever making sure that Rachel was okay, and whether there was anything else that she required. Rachel knew that it was just their way of making up for what they had missed, although Rachel had stressed that she hadn't given them any reason to suspect the truth so they were not to blame, but they were just a couple of extremely concerned parents. Rachel had finally managed to retreat to her bedroom where she had finally been able to call Jesse.

"That's good," he mumbled, Rachel had noticed that he seemed to be distant with her that evening, she was forever trying to keep the conversation flowing between the pair, she could tell that something was bothering him, she'd asked him countless times, each time he'd denied that there was anything wrong, Rachel was not convinced.

"Jesse, are you sure that everything is okay? Is it something I've done?" she asked quietly.

"No!" Jesse answered quickly and more abrupt than he had meant to, he sighed quietly and shook his head, "Rachel, it's nothing really. I guess I'm just tired,"

"Oh okay," Rachel sighed, absently playing with a loose strand of hair, "I'll let you get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I...I'm not sure Rachel, rehearsals are killing me right now, I'll call you okay?" Rachel sighed and nodded.

"Okay Jesse, sleep well,"

"Bye Rachel," Rachel heard the familiar sound of the phone clicking and sighed quietly. She knew she was worrying over nothing, she was well aware that the Regional's were looming, hell she'd been nagging Mr Schuster about it for weeks now, but she still couldn't keep that nagging feeling at the back of her mind. Shaking her head she placed her cell on her bedside cabinet, and lay back down on her bed, staring at the ceiling, she was just overreacting, that was that all. She was disturbed from her thoughts when she heard a feint knock on her door, sitting up slightly, she smiled as the door opened slowly and her dads were both stood in the doorway.

"Can we come in sweetheart?" her dad asked, Rachel nodded and smiled at them both as they walked inside.

"We thought you might like some hot chocolate before bed," her daddy smiled, passing her the steaming mug, "We added extra marshmallows, just how you like it," Rachel smiled gratefully as they both sat on the edge of her bed. She took a sip and felt the warm liquid fill her insides.

"This is really good," Rachel smiled,

"We just wanted to make sure that you were okay, if there is anything you need, or if you just want to talk, you know where to find us," her dad sighed, gently squeezing his daughters knee. Rachel nodded and smiled at them both.

"I told you earlier, I'm fine!" she stressed, smiling at the two of them. "I know I shouldn't have kept it from you, but honestly, it's okay now,"

"Okay sweetheart, we just thought we'd check on you before we headed to bed," her daddy leant forward and kissed her forehead gently, "We love you no matter what Rachel," he whispered. Rachel nodded as he pulled away and stood up. Her dad was next to kiss her forehead and sighed sadly as he walked towards the door.

"Goodnight sweetie," Rachel waved as her dads closed the door behind them. She sighed to herself as she finished her hot chocolate, she knew that they felt incredibly guilty, she just had to persuade them that she was okay that they had nothing to worry about. She yawned and placed the empty mug next to her cell phone. She'd work on it tomorrow, right now she needed to sleep.

The next morning, Rachel attempted to call Jesse as she walked through the halls of McKinley High, she was disappointed however when she received his voicemail again. She sighed quietly as she placed her cell phone into her bag and walked into the choir room. Her face lit up when she saw Matt already sitting inside, she quickly made her way over to him, hugging him as she sat down.

"So, did you talk to your dads?" he asked, she nodded and explained to him what had happened the previous night, he nodded in all of the right places, and patiently waited for her to finish talking.

"It's going to take them some time, but I'm sure they'll be okay,"

"Yeah, I guess so," Rachel smiled, lowering her voice as the rest of the Glee kids filed into the choir room. The atmosphere was considerably lighter than it had been over the last week, everyone was full of excited chatter, Mr Schuster was going to announce to winners of the competition today, and then the full rehearsals for Regional's could begin. Everyone was desperate to start, Rachel eager to discover whether or not she'd be given the star solo again. She'd worked hard for it all year, she deserved it, probably more than the others, but that didn't come from her.

"Hey guys!" Will grinned as he walked into the choir room, a pile of sheet music in his hands. He was greeted by a mixture of responses, some sounding keener than others.

"Okay, so let's get down to business," he grinned pulling up a chair opposite the kids, "Now you've all worked really hard all week, and I was very pleased with all of your performances yesterday,"

Rachel beamed proudly and squeezed Matt's hand, whilst turning to face Brittany and Mike who had sat directly behind them, her eyes managed to find Finn's who was sitting on the opposite side of the room, she smiled at him, he stared at her briefly before turning away. Rachel sighed and shook her head.

"I've took everything into consideration, and after much consideration I've decided that we'll be performing 'Don't Stop Me Now' at Regional's" Rachel jumped up excitedly as she hugged her friends tightly, she was that excited that she didn't hear some of the complaints coming from Mercedes and Kurt's direction. The kids spent the rest of their rehearsal going through the winning number, it took a while for Mike and Brittany to rework the choreography for twelve people, but it was coming together nicely. Rachel insisted that she kept dancing with Matt throughout the number, she felt comfortable with him now and realised that as a group they needed to be able to perform at their best. Finn was still ignoring her, which was proving difficult when she attempted to explain some of the new choreography to him, only choosing to listen when Brittany or Mike walked him through the routine. Rachel rolled her eyes at his childish behaviour and decided to rise above it and act like the bigger person. The bell rang, signalling the end of the rehearsal and Mr Schuster dismissed the kids, everyone split off into their respective groups and Rachel smiled at the work that they'd all put in today, if they kept up at this rate then she was sure that they'd be strong enough to compete against Vocal Adrenaline.

"So, what are you doing during your free period?" Matt asked as he picked up her bag,

"I'm not sure, I'm ahead on all of my homework for this semester, maybe I could work on some possible numbers for Regional's..." Matt laughed and shook his head.

"Come on, we'll just hang out," Rachel nodded as Matt lead her out of the choir room.

The two of them walked outside with Matt's arm casually slung around Rachel's shoulders. He led her to the football ground and the pair sat on the bleachers, Rachel instantly opened her bag and pulled out her notebook, reeling off a list of songs to a stunned Matt.

"Whoa, chill Rachel!" he laughed,

"I'm sorry, I know I'm a little overbearing, but it's only because I care, and if we don't place at Regional's, then Glee is over," Matt nodded and smiled at her.

"We'll be fine Rachel, did you see how hard everyone worked today, we've got this!" Rachel smiled and nodded, as Matt playfully punched her shoulder.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Totally, although it would be a lot easier for us, you know, if we knew something about Vocal Adrenalines performance," Rachel closed her notebook and turned to face him properly, a huge smile on her face.

"You know I don't know anything," she grinned, Matt shrugged and laughed,

"It was worth a try, I guess," Rachel rolled her eyes and placed her notebook back into her bag, deciding to take Matt's advice and leave the worrying for at least an hour or so. The pair of them spent the rest of the hour, talking and enjoying each other's company, Rachel even insisted on helping Matt with his algebra homework, '_it's important for students to keep up their grades especially when participating in extracurricular activities such as basketball and Glee'._

Rachel stretched out as she allowed her body to absorb the sun's rays, she suddenly realised that she hadn't even thought about Jesse whilst she'd been hanging out with Matt, for that she felt guilty. She still hadn't worked out what was going on with him, and she was certain that he was avoiding her. She jumped when she heard 'Defying Gravity' playing loudly, she fumbled in her bag, secretly hoping that it was Jesse returning her calls, she sighed however, when she saw Brittany's name flashing on the screen.

"Brittany, hi,"

"Rachel, is that you?" Rachel smiled as Matt sat up properly upon hearing his friend's name.

"Brit, you called me, what's up?" Rachel frowned when she didn't get a response, but she could hear voices in the background, she turned to face Matt who shrugged.

"Rachel, it's me, Mike,"

"Mike, what's going on?"

"You need to get to the auditorium, Vocal Adrenaline have shown up, if you see anyone else, could you tell them too?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way," she shut her cell phone and placed it into her bag, she stood up and pulled Matt to his feet, who frowned at her.

"Matthew, we need to move, don't make me drag you all the way to auditorium, because you know I will do it!" she threatened, pointing a finger in his face. Matt gulped and nodded, picking up his books and following Rachel as she quickly headed back into the building. He rolled his eyes as he pushed past various members of the student body, he had to admit, he wasn't as graceful as Rachel was as she weaved her way through the hallway. Only stopping when she bumped into Mercedes and Kurt, with Tina and Artie close behind them, Matt let out a relieved sigh as he finally managed to catch up with her.

"You guys, have to come to the auditorium, it's an emergency!" with that she was gone again, Matt groaned loudly as he pushed his way through the crowd again.

Rachel walked into the auditorium, a determined expression on her face, with the other five following behind her. The rest of the club were already there, Rachel followed their eye line towards the stage, catching her breath when she saw Jesse stood in front of her with Vocal Adrenaline. She gulped and took a tentative forward, feeling all eyes suddenly on her.

"J-Jesse, what are you doing here?" she asked nervously.

"I'm sorry that it's come to this, but you guys were awful to me!" he stated, unable to look at her in the eye, Rachel gulped and looked back at her teammates, "You never accepted me, you never listened to my _clearly_ superior ideas."

"Why are you here, in our auditorium?" Finn suddenly asked, stepping forward, Puck, Matt and Mike following his lead.

"The blogs and chat rooms are saying that we're finished, and that you guys are ripe to topple us, we just wanted to show you something that we came up with a few days ago, to see if you agree with that assessment,"

Rachel watched in horror as Vocal Adrenaline broke out into a near perfect performance of 'Another One Bites the Dust,' she'd never been one to back away from a challenge, but as she watched them perform on stage she found herself edging further away from them, her eyes locked firmly onto Jesse as he performed on stage. Tentatively, Matt squeezed her hand, Rachel jumped and pulled it out of his grasped, desperately trying to ignore that pain that that was ripping through her heart right now. She knew that the two of them being in rival clubs would be difficult, she had thought that they could keep things professional, she didn't want the rivalry to affect their relationship, but seeing him perform on stage, singing a song directly aimed at her and her club, it stung. She thought that he was better than that.

The song finished and Vocal Adrenaline quickly left the stage, Jesse was the last to leave, taking a long hard look at Rachel, he shook his head and followed his team off the stage. New Directions were stood in silence, exchanging nervous glances, they'd all been so confident that morning, Vocal Adrenaline had snatched that away from them. Slowly, everyone dispersed and headed back to the choir room, a place they felt safe, a place they felt secure about themselves. Rachel was the last to leave, only moving when she felt two arms placed around her shoulder, she looked from side to side, noticing that it was Brittany and Mercedes who were comforting her.

"Come on girl, don't let him get to you," Mercedes whispered, as the three girls slowly caught up with the others. Artie was explaining to everyone that this was a tradition of Carmel High's, and that really they should have been expecting this, still it didn't make Rachel feel any better. She kept replaying the performance in her mind, Jesse couldn't even look at her, what did that mean?

"Come on you guys, it's going to take more than that to get us into a Funk..." Rachel lifted her head as Kurt trailed off and everyone pushed their way into the choir room, everyone gasped in shock, their beloved choir room, their safe haven was now covered in tissue paper. The boys were furious, Finn and Puck swearing revenge on Vocal Adrenaline, the girls were determined to clear the mess from the room, Rachel however just wanted to crawl away and hide from everything.

"Guys, what the hell happened here?" Mr Schuster shouted as he walked into the room, Finn turned around and glared at Rachel, who cowered away from him and hid herself behind Brittany and Matt.

"Vocal Adrenaline just humiliated us on our own turf!" Puck snapped, "Those guys are golden,"

"Come on guys, it's just a lame prank. The fact that they're trying to get to us mean that we've got them spooked,"

"You didn't see them Mr Schue, those guys aren't afraid of anything." Mercedes stated as she pulled a pile of tissue paper from the piano, "It doesn't make any sense, how did they get all of their equipment in there?"

"How do you think?" Finn asked, standing up straight and turning to face Rachel who had perched herself on a stool in the middle of the room, slowly rolling up some of the tissue paper.

"What are you talking about Finn?" Mr Schuster asked.

"She's still dating him!" Finn shouted, causing everyone to stop what they were doing, Matt exchanged glances with Brittany and Mike who were struggling to look at the remaining members of the group. "After everything he's put her through, she's still dating him!"

"You think I had something to do with this?" Rachel asked, finally finding her voice

"That's enough, we can't start fighting between ourselves" Mr Schuster said, trying to calm him down, Finn shook his head and stared directly into Rachel's eyes.

"Can't you see it Rachel? He doesn't love you, he's playing you!" Finn shouted, as Rachel flinched as his harsh words hit her, "You're just too blind to see it!" Matt quickly moved to her side and placed a hand comfortingly around her.

"Dude back off, Rachel had nothing to do with this. She works harder for this club than anyone!" Matt shouted squaring up to Finn, the room feel silent again as everyone watched the angry exchange between the two teens. Finn had been in this position before, everything felt too similar to him.

"You know what, I'm done with this!" Finn snapped, throwing a pile of tissue to the floor and storming out of the room. Rachel sighed and glanced around at her teammates.

"I can't believe you're still dating him," Santana said bluntly, Rachel looked ashamed and glanced at her feet, Santana sighed and relented slightly. "Still, it's your life I guess,"


	16. Chapter 16

**Before I post this next chapter, can I just ask. How great was the return episode? I loved it from start to finish, so many good things happened and the new character :D I'm so excited for next weeks episode, the songs sound really good too. But anyway, enough about the show...**

**So here we are with chapter 16, only Regional's left now :(. Thank you so much for the comments, and I know you're set against Jesse egging Rachel, (with good reason I might add) but this is what I wanted to see happen in the show. Hopefully you'll continue to read this as we've only 2/3 chapters left, and I promise you will have hope, the last line of this chapter makes sure of that.**

**Thanks again for your support with this, here we go...**

**Rachael x.**

"Did you see their faces?" Giselle sneered as she and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline gathered in the Carmel high auditorium, "We've totally got them scared, I mean as if a team of losers are even fit to share the same stage as us!" Jesse rolled his eyes as he distanced himself from the rest of the group. He felt terrible, even if he had nailed his performance that morning, but it was the pained expression on Rachel's face that was burned into his mind. He was caught between the two things that meant the most to him, he needed to show his dedication to Vocal Adrenaline in order to gain his scholarship to UCLA, but Rachel was something completely different. She was able to see in him what so many others had failed to see – she saw him for who he really was, and not who he was going to be in years to come.

"That Berry girl needed to be taken down a peg or two anyway, she needed to know where she and her pathetic team really belong," Jesse ears perked up as he heard them begin to talk about Rachel, he turned slowly to face them and recognised that ever so familiar grin on Giselle's face, hell he'd seen it enough in the past.

"Look guys, can we just get on with rehearsal please?" he asked, as he stood up and walked across the stage, desperate to change the subject, anything to erase Rachel's pained expression from his mind.

"Not so fast St James," Giselle shouted, causing Jesse to freeze mid step, "We've got a job for you."

That day at McKinley high had been a very difficult for Rachel; she had no idea where she stood anymore. Her friends had tried to be there for her, but she realised that she had to start to deal with things like this on her own. She couldn't depend on them to make everything better, and to be honest they were not the biggest fans of Jesse St James, even Matt had been dubious about him from the beginning. She sat alone in her classes, and whilst sifting her way through her work, she couldn't help glancing in Finn's direction every once in a while. Finn had once been her best friend, now he could barely stand to look at her for longer than a few seconds. She knew that if he couldn't stand to be in the same room with him, then they were definitely going to struggle at Regional's, judges are quick to pick up on the chemistry between the performers, that had been their secret weapon at Sectional's, whilst they were not the most rehearsed group they certainly had the most heart. She was going to do it, when the bell rang signalling the end of class she was going to use that Rachel Berry charm and convince him to give their friendship another try, if not for her then at least for the club. What she hadn't counted on however was Finn's eagerness to escape the confines of the classroom. She rolled her eyes angrily and picked up her books and quickly ran out of the classroom, finally catching up with him when he stopped to place some books in his locker.

"Hi, Finn," she said quietly, he turned to face her and smiled nervously, her eyes furiously searching his. "I was wondering whether we could talk?"

"I said everything I had to earlier, why don't you speak to your boyfriend? Oh wait you can't, he's not here is he?" Rachel's smile soon disappeared as she remained glued to the spot, hopelessly staring at him.

"I know you're finding it difficult dealing with what Jesse and I have, but I would still like us to be friends," Finn shook his head and slammed his locker shut.

"I don't think I can Rachel, we'll still see each other in Glee, but that's it," Rachel sighed as he walked off in the opposite direction. She turned and leant against the lockers, Finn had always been her support, even though most of the time he had hurt her in the process, but they'd never been so distant, it was horrible. The bell rang and Rachel jumped as she hurried through the hallway again, desperate not to be late for her next class, she couldn't afford to have a blemish on her perfect attendance record. She pushed the door open and was relieved that she had arrived just before her teacher, she smiled to herself as she slumped into her seat and began getting her supplies from her bag. She looked up when she heard someone sitting in the seat next to her; she lifted her head and noticed that Quinn was now occupying the seat next to her. She gave her an awkward smile before opening her textbook and reading ahead so she was fully prepared for her lesson. Quinn sat in silence for a few moments, unsure whether to speak to Rachel or not, the girls were still not best friends, but they'd both been through so much in last 7 months that they'd decided that it was about time that they put their differences aside. She'd kept relatively silent during Finn's argument with Rachel in the choir room, but that didn't mean that she didn't have her opinions.

"For the record, I don't judge you for wanting to be with Jesse," Rachel lifted her head from her book and turned to face Quinn who was staring at her. "It's not your fault he acts like a jerk half the time," Quinn smiled and Rachel giggled quietly.

"I wish Finn could see it like that," Rachel admitted, Quinn shrugged and opened up her own textbook as their teacher walked into the room.

"Finn's always been stubborn, especially if it's something he cares about," Rachel opened her mouth to reply but was quickly silenced by their teacher who was now making a start at the front of the room.

Vocal Adrenaline had gathered in the parking lot of McKinley high and was now waiting to begin their attack, Jesse was in turmoil as he sat in the back of Giselle's car, he knew he was being watched, he had been since his sudden return to Carmel.

"Make the call Jesse," Giselle ordered, Jesse blinked and stared at them, hoping that they would see sense, it wasn't too late to change their minds, no one even knew that they were here, they could leave now and no one would know any different. Better yet, Rachel wouldn't be caught up in his mess yet again. He shook his head as no one seemed to notice his inner struggle, slowly he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled the number that usually made him so happy.

"_Hello?"_

"Meet me in the parking lot," he hung up almost immediately knowing that she'd be able to sense his pain, he'd only just been able to keep himself together when he performed to her that morning. From then on, everything was a blur, he got out of the car and stood alone waiting for her arrive, he'd never felt more uncomfortable in his life, then he saw her and all of his troubles seemed to disappear. She turned to face him, and he waved and the smile on her face made all of his pain disappear, even if it was momentarily, his face ached as he forced the smile to stay on his face as she neared him. As the eggs flew at her from every direction, he wanted more than anything to run to her, to protect her, to shield her from her nightmare, but he couldn't.

Rachel hid her face behind her hands, but it didn't stop the egg from seeping through her fingers – but no matter how horrible that felt nothing could top the feeling of betrayal that she felt from Jesse. He was standing there; he was watching them attack her like this. Maybe Finn was right after all? If Jesse really did care as much as he'd said he did then he wouldn't be standing for this would he? The egging finally stopped but the laughter continued, slowly she pulled her hands from her face and stared directly at Jesse who looked just as pained as she did.

"Do it Jesse!" Jesse gulped and glanced at Giselle, "Are you with us or not?"

Slowly Jesse took the walk of shame towards her, their bodies only inches apart and Rachel finally found the strength that she'd needed all this time, she straightened herself up and gave him a firm stare.

"Do it, do it like you broke my heart!" Jesse winced as the words hit him; he held the egg in his hand and slowly lifted it in the air. Rachel watched him intensely, blocking out the rest of Vocal Adrenaline as she did so.

"I love you," he whispered, before he finally smashed the egg onto her forehead, Rachel nodded as it dripped down her face. Jesse recoiled in horror as the rest of Vocal Adrenaline laughed and made their way to their cars, but as they drove away Jesse couldn't take his eyes away from Rachel. He'd made the biggest mistake of his life, and he had no idea how to fix it.

"Okay guys, let's start with 'Don't Stop Me Now'" Mr Schuster grinned as he walked into the choir room, " Wait where's Rachel?" Everyone shrugged and glanced around the room, it was so unlike her to be late for rehearsal, early yes, late never.

"We had math together," Quinn said quietly, "I haven't seen her since though,"

"I saw that Jesse kid in the parking lot earlier," Puck stated.

"That explains it, she's chosen him again," Finn growled and Matt glared at him, shrugging off Mike and Brittany as they tried to calm him down.

"It's okay guys, we can start without her," Mr Schuster added, trying to prevent another argument from happening, "Quinn, why don't you take the lead for now?" Quinn nodded and slowly got to her feet, and walked over to the piano where Finn was standing.

The rehearsal was going pretty smoothly, obviously not as well as they would have hoped with Rachel's no show, but they were managing to work around it.

"Okay guys, take five!" the group broke out into conversation, mainly about Rachel and her whereabouts, everyone had their own opinions regarding her and Jesse, the girls were pretty much on her side, arguing that if it really is true love then they should be given a chance, the boys arguing that Jesse was a jerk that neither he nor Vocal Adrenaline should be trusted. Finn sighed as he listened to everyone argue between themselves, he got up from his seat and walked out of the room, pausing when he heard a soft trudging noise coming from the other end of the hallway. He craned his neck as he stared at the figure nearing him, gasping when he realised that it was Rachel.

"Oh my God, Rachel! Are you okay?" he asked running up to her, she reeked of egg but that didn't stop him from wrapping his arm tightly around her as she began sobbing into his chest.

"I'm so sorry Finn!" she sobbed, "I should've listened to you,"

"It's okay Rachel, I'm sorry for acting the way I did, I was jealous..."

"No Finn, you were right all along about him, he did this to me!" Finn held her close as she continued to sob into his chest.

"Finn, are you out here?" Finn pulled back and stared at the rest of New Directions noticed Rachel in Finn's arms, Brittany and Quinn ran towards her, pulling her into the choir room, the boys following them. Rachel sat down in the middle of the room, with everyone pulling their chairs closer to her.

"I would hug you, but you're covered in egg," Brittany stated, Rachel sniffed and smiled at her.

"Who did this to you Rachel?" Quinn asked, as gently as she could, trying to ignore Brittany's comment.

"Vocal Adrenaline, Jesse was with them." She gulped, "I keep imaging the mothers of all of the unborn chickens coming and attacking me in my sleep,"

"This is bull!" Puck exclaimed, jumping to his feet, "Finn, Matt, Mike, come with me,"

"Right on, it's time for less talking and more punching!" Matt added, Rachel watched as all of the boys, Kurt included, made their way to the door.

"Guys, what's going on?" Mr Schuster asked.

"We're about to go all brave heart on Vocal Adrenaline!" Finn shouted,

"Guys, violence is never the answer..."

"Oh it is when the question is, what's the best way to mess up that Jesse kids face!" Rachel watched as the anger grew in each of the boys, she'd never seen them act this way before, especially not to defend her.

"Mr Schue, Rachel is one of us, we're the only ones who get to humiliate her." Rachel frowned Brittany squeezed her hand, smiling at Kurt's remark.

"Guys stop!" Mr Schuster shouted, "Get back here, and sit down!" Kurt was the first to retreat, taking his usual seat next to Mercedes.

"We can't just let Vocal Adrenaline get away with turning Rachel into an omelette!" Finn snapped,

"We're not!" Mr Schuster growled, moving in Rachel's direction, the boys following him.

"Rachel, dial Jesse's number on your phone," Rachel did as she was told, fumbling around in her purse, searching for it. She dialled the number and handed it over to Mr Schuster.

"You haven't deleted his number yet?" Santana asked.

"I haven't exactly had the time," Rachel quipped.

"Jesse St James? Will Schuster here, you and Vocal Adrenaline need to meet at our auditorium Friday three sharp!" he hung up and the kids stared at him for some sort of explanation.

"Girls, you go and help Rachel get cleaned up, boys you're with me!" the girls nodded and Brittany and Quinn pulled Rachel to her feet and towards the door, where Rachel paused and looked back at the boys,

"Thank you," she smiled as the girls pulled her towards the showers.

New Directions spent the rest of their rehearsal time throughout the week working on their own funkification for Vocal Adrenaline. Everyone was so excited at beating them at their own game, Rachel had even managed to push the betrayal to the back of her mind, especially with the help of her friends. Jesse had tried calling her every half hour since the egging, but with the help of Santana she had finally found the courage to delete Jesse's number from her phone. When Friday finally arrived, she was no longer feeling nervous about seeing him again, she was excited at the prospect of showing him that he no longer had a hold over her, and she didn't need him in her life, she could cope without him. It would be tough, but she had her friends to help her through it, she just hoped that she could keep her poker face together long enough..

Vocal Adrenaline filed into the auditorium and Brittany took Rachel's hand and pointed out Jesse to her, Rachel nodded and gulped. Finn smiled at her and Matt hugged as Rachel prepared to take her place on stage, whilst the rest of New Directions prepared back stage.

"Thanks for coming, after your brazen escalation of our growing dispute which we were willing to put to rest. We decided that only way to truly funkify you is to show you the one thing we know you can't do. So enjoy," Giselle smirked at Jesse whose eyes were focused solely on Rachel, who hadn't even bothered to look at him since his arrival. Rachel walked off the stage and the music kicked in.

Vocal Adrenaline watched in horror as New Directions tore up the stage with their funk number, but Jesse didn't care about that, all he cared about was how close Rachel was dancing to Matt, how comfortable she looked doing it, it was like Jesse St James had never even existed in her life, she made him feel like their whole relationship had been a dream, a dream that quickly turned into a nightmare when he stuck that egg against his forehead. He remembered how she used to look at him like that. Yes Jesse, was certainly having to live the consequences of his actions now, and frankly it hurt more than being rejected for the lead in a hit Broadway musical. He definitely had to do something about his situation; he couldn't go on like this for much longer. So taking care to slip out of his seat unnoticed he made his way to the back of the auditorium but not before stealing one last look at the girl of his dreams on stage. One way or another he was going to get her back.


	17. Chapter 17

**First of all, I'm so so sorry that I haven't updated in like forever. You wouldn't believe how busy i've been since I went back to uni last September add that to a terrible period of writers block and you end up with months of nothing written. I do appreciate you sticking with this and not giving up on me, thank you so far for adding this to your favourites and leaving a comment. It really does make me smile. And I realise that this a little out of date now considering the direction that Glee has taken, but I felt that I owed it to myself and to my lovely readers to actually finish it. It's not totally finished yet, although I thought it would be, but I thought it would read better as two chapters rather than just one.**

**BTW what do we all think about season 2 of Glee, again a little out of date but it's nice to get other people's opinions. I love Sam, I think he's a grate addition to the cast, although I'm still craving the return of Jesse. Fingers crossed for the second half of season 2. **

**Thank you again and I hope you enjoy this. I can't say when the next chapter will be posted, but I've managed to overcome my writers block now so it may be up sooner than you think. **

**Anyway, please leave me a comment to let me know you're all still out there and tell me what you think.**

**Rachael xx**

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"Okay guys, the meeting is now in session," Mr Schuster smiled, trying to remain optimistic in front of the kids, the truth was even though they had battled against Vocal Adrenaline a few weeks ago, they were still feeling the strain of reworking their routines and remaining strong enough to battle it out in competition.

"What's the point Mr Schue?" Mercedes asked, slouching back in her seat, "Vocal Adrenaline are National champions, we've got no chance against them, especially now they've got Jesse back with them, they'll know all of our routines." The rest of the group nodded and Rachel sighed quietly, with Matt squeezing her hand gently.

"I hate to admit, but Mercedes is right." Finn shook his head and stared at the rest of the group who were nodding slowly in agreement with her, he rolled his eyes and stared at Mr Schuster who was stood silently at the front of the group.

"Come on guys, we're acting as if they've already won." Finn stood and paced around the room, "We can't just give up on this, if we gave up on everything then we wouldn't be now."

"He's got a point," Kurt stated casually, "We haven't endeavoured torture all year for nothing," Gradually everyone came around to Finn's way of thinking and suddenly the atmosphere began to feel a lot lighter.

The group gathered around Mr Schuster's coffee table, each of them contributing their own idea's, Kurt and Mercedes were frantically trying to arranges their costumes, they knew that it wouldn't be anything to extravagant, their budget wouldn't allow it, but they still wanted something stylish to perform in. However, it was Rachel who had suddenly taken charge of the set list, taking the odd contribution from everyone else.

"Okay, so we've already agreed that we'll be performing 'Don't Stop Me Now' Finn and I will obviously taking lead vocals," she stated in her usual matter of fact manner, Mercedes rolled her eyes and resorted to biting her tongue to hold back the comment that was urging to escape.

"We've all worked really hard and it's really taken shape, but if we're going to beat Vocal Adrenaline then we need to kick it up a notch," she paused and turned to face Matt, Mike and Brittany, "Do you think you could rework the choreography?" Matt and Mike exchanged glances and nodded, as Brittany gave her a wide grin.

"It will be choppy, but I'm sure we could do something with it," Mike explained, Rachel smiled gratefully at them before turning to face the rest of the group.

"We still need two more numbers, any suggestions?" Finn grinned as he finally began to see Rachel return to her true form. She'd been so distant since their final battle with Vocal Adrenaline, it was as if a part of her was missing.

"If we're going to do this, then we're going to this properly," Mr Schuster announced, everyone sat up and stared at their teacher who stepped forward, "I was going to quit once, but you guys brought be back with 'Don't Stop Believing' it was nine, but we are going to make it a ten,"

"We're doing 'Don't Stop' at Regional's?" Rachel questioned, adding it to her list without waiting for a response.

"And then some," Mr Schuster grinned, "Because who cares about what happens when we get there, when the getting there has been so much fun." Everyone grinned and began talking animatedly at their chances at Regional's and how they seemed to have improved within the last half an hour.

The day of the competition finally arrived and New Directions gathered one by one in the McKinley High parking lot, Rachel arrived with Matt, Mike and Brittany first, greeting Mr Schuster with her usual optimistic attitude. Quinn and Puck arrived shortly after, Puck behaving like a true gentleman by carrying her bags towards the bus. Mercedes pulled up with Kurt, Artie and Tina in her car, greeting everyone with an air of excitement, Artie informing them that he'd checked the show choir blog the night before and their odds on winning were pretty decent, well better than they could have expected anyway. As time went by Mr Schuster began checking his watch, trying to ignore Rachel pacing up and down in front of him.

"Mr Schuster, I don't mean to sound pushy, but if we don't leave soon we'll miss the beginning of the competition," Rachel stated, trying to remain calm. Will nodded knowing that deep down pushy was exactly what Rachel was aiming at it was in her nature.

"Has anybody heard form Finn this morning?" he asked, everyone exchanged glances and shook their heads,

"He's probably over slept," Santana stated, as she lazily leant against the bus.

"My feet are starting to hurt," Quinn wined as she leant against Puck who tried to lighten the load.

"Okay, everyone on the bus, I'll call Finn," He was met with a mixture of annoyed groans as slowly the group began taking their seats on the bus. Rachel took her seat next to Matt and absently bit her lip; Matt rolled his eyes and squeezed her hand.

"He'll be here," he said quietly, Rachel turned to face him and smiled.

"I know," she nodded, trying to convince herself rather than Matt, before the two of them joined group conversation going on behind them. The eleven teens were so involved in their conversations that they hardly noticed that their teacher had rejoined them on the bus. After a few feeble attempts to gain their attention he eventually raised his voice and silenced the teens.

"So, I've just got off the phone with Finn's mother, he over slept, he's going to meet us there," Mr Schuster announced, finally taking his seat as the bus set off to Regional's.

"Does anybody feel a severe sense of Déjà vu here?" Kurt asked, Mercedes raised her eyebrow at him and Rachel whipped her head around to meet his gaze.

"Think about it, Finn was late turning up to Sectional's, and looked what happened there,"

"We _won_ Sectional's!" Rachel stated adamantly.

"Yes, but look at the disaster we had to face first," Kurt added smugly, "I'm telling you, we need to expect the unexpected today," Rachel frowned and took a deep breath before delving into yet another argument with Kurt. Everyone soon grew bored and broke off into their own conversations, leaving the two divas to battle on as normal until they finally reached their destination.

Jesse sighed as he walked in through the main entrance of the annual Regional Glee Championships, it felt weird to be on this side of the stage for a change, he couldn't actually remember the last time he was in the audience for one of these things, but he couldn't imagine ever performing with Vocal Adrenaline ever again. Shelby was furious when he'd quit last week, she'd had to rework their numbers dramatically, especially as they had planned on performing a number focussed entirely on Jesse, but he didn't care. For once he was willing to shun the spotlight, because he had finally realised that it meant nothing if he didn't have anyone to share it with. Cautiously he made his way backstage, but he figured that if he walked with confidence then he wouldn't be questioned, and surprisingly it worked. He strolled along the hallway and was instantly met with Shelby's voice echoing from a nearby room, quickly he opened the door on his left and jumped inside, hoping he wouldn't be seen. He let out a sigh of relief and leant against the door, jumping when he realised that he wasn't alone.

"Who are you?" he asked, eying up the group in front of him, trying not to stare too much at their hideous white costumes.

"Hey, I know you, you're that punk from Vocal Adrenaline!" Jesse frowned and took a step backwards.

"Well, I see I've outstayed my welcome," he said before hastily making his exit. He sighed again and continued to walk through the hallway. He reached the last room of the hallway and peered through crack of the door. He smiled as he saw her on the far side of the room, she looked nervous as she paced back and forth, he couldn't help frowning when he noticed that Matt was reaching out to her, pulling her down on top of him.

"Mr Schuster, Finn should be here by now," Rachel sighed, feeling slightly agitated.

"He'll be here, Finn wouldn't let us down,"

"Maybe not intentionally, but please Mr Schuster, if he's not here soon then we won't be able to perform," Mr Schuster nodded and walked over towards the window, New Directions sat in a nervous silence, none of them daring to voice their concerns aloud.

"What?" Everyone jumped as they heard their teacher exclaim loudly, "That's terrible...no of course not...let us know as soon as you hear anything...thank you...bye." Mr Schuster sighed loudly as he clicked his phone shut. He could feel eleven pairs eyes burning into him, he gulped and slowly turned around to face everyone, Rachel had now jumped to her feet shaking her head, eyes brimming with tears.

"Mr Schuster, is everything okay?" she asked, fearing the answer, Matt got to his feet and gently placed his arms around Rachel's shoulders.

"I'm afraid I've got some bad news," Rachel shook her head and turned against Matt's body.

"Mr Schue, Finn's okay isn't he?" Puck asked, Mr Schuster sighed quietly, feeling useless as he delivered the news.

"I'm afraid Finn was involved in a car accident, it's nothing serious, but he's been taken into hospital just to be safe," he explained, Rachel turned her head slowly and wiped her eyes.

"But he's okay?" she asked, Mr Schuster nodded and smiled.

"His mom is going to call us when the doctor has checked him over, but yes, he's okay. They just want to keep him there for a few hours for observation." Rachel let out a relieved grin and quickly hugged her teacher as the rest of the group each made their relief well known.

"But wait!" Rachel shrieked loudly, silencing the group once more, "What about the competition? We can't perform with eleven members, we'll be disqualified!"

"I'm really sorry guys," Mr Schuster said quietly, "I'd better go and break the news,"

"It's so unfair, we worked so hard. Now Vocal Adrenaline have got it _that _much easier!" Mercedes moaned, Rachel frowned as she slumped down in her seat, obviously trying to come up with some sort of solution to the problem. Mr Schuster glanced at the kids and felt terrible, he really thought that they had a chance, even if they didn't win then they were a certainty for second place, he was sure of it. Now they had to wait another twelve months before they had a chance at it again.

"I'm so sorry guys, but for the record, I'm still so proud of you guys," he smiled sadly as he approached the door.

Mr Schuster left the room, and took a deep breath as he walked through the hallway, listening to Vocal Adrenaline and Aural Intensity warming up around him. He shook his head as he desperately tried to block them out, continuing towards the registration table. Meanwhile, New Directions had gathered up their belongings and made their way towards the entrance, they had all decided that if they could not perform here today, then they were not prepared to sit and watch Vocal Adrenaline walk through the competition, it wasn't fair. It wasn't long before the bumped into Giselle and a few other members of Vocal Adrenaline.

"Giving up already are we?" she sneered, Rachel rolled her eyes and tried to ignore her, the rest of New Directions following her lead, "Then again, who can blame you. I wouldn't want to compete against us either,"

Rachel froze and turned to face them, Matt clasping her hand to stop her from doing anything she may regret.

"I'll have you know that our male lead has just been rushed into hospital!" Rachel stated through gritted teeth, she turned away from them only to see that the rest of New Directions had joined forces with her and backing her up, all eyes focused on the opposing team.

"That's what he's telling you; after all he had to make some excuse didn't he?" Giselle sneered again. This time it wasn't Rachel that reacted, it was Santana, she had broken rank and was making a direct beeline in Giselle's direction, she shrieked loudly as Rachel watched in horror as Mike and Puck tried to pull the Latina away. Santana huffed loudly as she readjusted her dress; Giselle smirked and fixed her hair.

"People like them shouldn't even be allowed at public events," she sneered, before turning on her heel and leading the remaining members of Vocal Adrenaline away.

"I could've taken her," Santana huffed, the rest of New Directions laughed along with her and Rachel placed her hand on Santana's shoulder.

"She's not worth it, people like her thrive on that sort of attention," Santana shrugged and Rachel quickly removed her hand, they were kind of friends now but not that close yet.

Jesse watched as Vocal Adrenaline retreated to their dressing room, he'd done remarkably well to go unnoticed all this time, but now it was time to make his move. He rounded the corner and tried to look as natural as possible as he approached New Directions.

"Hey," he said quietly, Rachel lifted her head and frowned.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped stepping forward, Matt and Puck stepping in time with her. Jesse nodded at her hostile manner and smiled.

"I came to support you, to wish you luck," he explained, Rachel rolled her eyes

"Save it Jesse," Rachel hissed walking off in the opposite direction, leaving the rest of New Directions to deal with him.

"I also hear that you need a twelfth member,"

"What's it to you St James?" Puck growled,

"I could help with that," Rachel stopped walking and turned around to face him.

"And how could you possibly help us? If you remember correctly, you left us to perform with Vocal Adrenaline,"

"I left Vocal Adrenaline, I left them for you. And if truth be known, they're running scared."

"They looked pretty confident to us," Mercedes stated,

"They're under rehearsed, they're doing what they know best, they're psyching out the competition, that's the only way they can win today."

Rachel remained silent as she listened to Jesse talk, Brittany had made her way over to Rachel and clasped her hand, while Artie whispered something in Tina's ear and seconds later she disappeared. Rachel didn't have time to enquire of her whereabouts as she could tell that New Directions were being persuaded by Jesse and his seemingly easy way of defeating Vocal Adrenaline.

"So how can you help us exactly?" Kurt asked, seemingly intrigued with the idea of finally beating their rivals.

"Let me perform with you," he grinned.

"Absolutely no!" Rachel snapped, walking forward, "No, no way,"

"It would be good to wipe that smug look from their faces," Mercedes contemplated,

"I hear National's are being held in New York this year, that could be you guys," Jesse added. Kurt's eyes seemed to light up at this comment and he grinned at the rest of the group, Matt looked uneasy, as did Mike, both trying to remain loyal to Rachel.

Jesse stared at the group of people in front of him, he knew it would be fairly easy to persuade them, after all he only had to give them hope of winning and he knew that they'd be putty in his hand, it was Rachel that he knew he would have to charm, that would be difficult, he'd already used up all of his second chances with her.

"You don't know the choreography," Rachel stated harshly, Kurt and Mercedes sighed as they exchanged nervous glances with each other. They could see their dream of performing in New York slipping away in front of them all over again. Quinn sighed as she watched the scene in front of her, she could really do without this today, she was having an extremely uncomfortable day as it was, without all of this extra drama going on

"I know you want to win just as much as I do Rachel, let me do this one thing to help you. I want to prove to you how sorry I really am, then when today is over I'll walk away, you have my word," Rachel bit her lip anxiously as she stared at her teammates who were nodding eagerly at her.

"Fine, but we're going to have to work fast," she said through gritted teeth. New Directions cheered loudly and Jesse resisted the urge to grin at her, he didn't want to rock the boat, one wrong word and he'd be out of there.

"What's going on, guys, Tina say you've found a way to perform without Finn" Mr Schuster asked as Tina pulled him around the corner, Rachel rolled her eyes and stared at Artie, fuming that she'd been so predictable.

"How did you know I'd agree to it?" she asked as she approached him, Artie shrugged and smiled warmly at her.

"I didn't, I just hoped you would," Rachel nodded and turned her back on Jesse who was moving closer into the group again.

"Jesse has agreed to help us," Kurt announced, Will burrowed his eyebrows together as he stared between Jesse and Rachel.

"Are you sure you're okay with this Rachel?" Rachel sighed, she wasn't sure of anything anymore, but still she proceeded to force out a smile and a nod. Will grinned and led them back to their dressing room as quickly as he could.

"Now we need to rework our numbers, obviously they're going to be difficult without Finn," Will sighed as he shut the door behind them,

"Actually I have some suggestions about that." Rachel piped up, Will nodded and all eyes were suddenly on Rachel. She took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"I thought Noah could take the leads on 'Don't Stop Believing' his range is pretty similar to Finn's," Puck blinked and Quinn grinned at him, Puck sighed and nodded as Will patted him on the back gratefully. "For 'Don't Stop Me Now' I thought Matt could take the lead," This comment didn't go as strongly, Matt had never had a solo throughout Glee Club, Rachel was taking a huge risk here.

"Maybe Puck should take this one too?" Matt suggested and Rachel shook her head,

"You've rehearsed with me for weeks, you know this song inside out, plus you know Finn's choreography, you're ready for this Matt," Will nodded and Matt eventually admitted defeat, and agreed to take the lead.

"That just leaves us with the ballad," Will announced,

"I suppose I could select something from my catalogue?" Rachel suggested.

"Can I suggest something?" Jesse asked, Rachel frowned and Will nodded.

"Rachel and I rehearsed a number of duets together during my time at McKinley, why don't we just revisit one of those?"

"What do you have in mind?" Will asked, nodding at his suggestion.

Rachel frowned, when Jesse had suggested performing with them, she had imagined him swaying in the background, simply there to make up the numbers, now she had to actually perform a number with him. Thought of the day so far – absurd.


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm so sorry for the long gaps between updates, but I've been so busy with uni work (finally finish everything next Friday woo!) so my writing time has been taken up by that. But I've become inspired again over the last couple of days in between breaks from work, also the news that Jesse is coming back to Glee, well it made me determined to get this finished finally. This isn't the last chapter, it was supposed to be, but I got carried away in this chapter, so I decided to split the chapter into two, with the final chapter maybe being posted at the end of next week (work depending). **

**Thanks again, for the continued support on this, it's been like my baby for the last twelve months (has it really been that long?) it's been great to keep coming back to this and getting back into the creative process, especially when work has been getting me down. I'm also hoping that when this is finished, I can begin writing something else, I was thinking maybe another Rachel story (of course, who else would I focus on?) With maybe someone else? I love the St Berry goodness, but I also love Puckleberry, and I've recently been converted to Samchel that one is kind of sweet. So let me know if you've got any suggestions :)**

**Thanks again, and hopefully it won't be long until the final update!**

* * *

"I'm really pleased that you're letting me do this for you," Jesse smiled as he and Rachel continued to work on their number, Mr Schuster had moved them into the far corner of the room away from everybody else, and Jesse was making the most of the little alone time that they had.

"I didn't agree to it for you, I did it for the team. Once the competition is over, you leave, that was the deal," Rachel said harshly, not moving her eyes from her piece of sheet music. Jesse sighed but nodded attempting not to anger her further, and the two teens worked in a considerable silence from then on, only communicating when they really had to. They didn't have time to run through the number fully, as Jesse still had to pick up the choreography for the other two routines, Mr Schuster just had to have faith that the professionalism that Jesse and Rachel had between them would be enough to carry the performance.

"Okay places everybody!" Will shouted as he led them towards the stage, Matt took hold of Rachel's hand and pulled her towards him.

"Are you okay about this?" he whispered as they trailed behind the others, Rachel shrugged and glanced at Jesse, before turning to face Matt again.

"Honestly no, but it's for the good of the team, and I'm willing to sacrifice my feelings for theirs," Matt smiled and Rachel hugged him as Mr Schuster approached her, ready to lead her and Jesse to the back of the auditorium. The pair walked in silence, Jesse struggling to take his eyes off Rachel as they waited for their cue. Will sighed and smiled at them both.

"Break a leg you two," Rachel smiled as he walked off, before taking a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"I've missed you Rachel, I know I messed up, and I can never apologise enough, but I'd really like to try," Jesse said quietly.

"Don't!" Rachel held her hand up to silence him, "We're performing on stage in a matter of minutes, I really can't deal with this right now," Rachel answered, not daring herself to face him.

"And now welcome to the stage, from Lima, Ohio, McKinley High's New Directions!" the auditorium erupted with applause Rachel took another deep breath.

"Break a leg," Jesse whispered as the music started playing in the background, Rachel nodded as she opened the door and stepped forward, the spotlight hit her and all eyes were suddenly on her, she blinked quickly and instantly she was in character.

"_You know this isn't what I wanted,  
Never thought it'd come this far,_

_Just thinking back to where we started  
and how we lost all that we are"_

Slowly Rachel made her way down the aisle, stopping when she was halfway, using all the emotions she could muster in her performance. She paused and took a breath as Jesse stepped out from behind the door on the other side of the auditorium and began singing to her. Everyone's attention was now on him giving Rachel a brief moment to compose herself.

"_We were young & times were easy,  
But I could see it's not the same.  
I'm standing here, but you don't see me,  
I'd give it all for that to change."_

Jesse sighed dramatically as he held out his arm towards Rachel, she simply smiled at him (stage smile that is) and continued to walk towards the stage.

_"And I don't want to lose her,  
I don't want to let her go."_

Jesse quickened his pace as he continued to walk down his side of the auditorium, pausing when he was in line with Rachel. He was well aware that everyone was watching their relationship with fresh eyes, but for him this was the real thing. His eyes softened as he stared at Rachel once more, she held the stare briefly before looking away from him. Jesse couldn't be sure whether she was simply performing in character or whether she was beginning to thaw a little towards him.

"_Standing out in the rain,_

_I need to know if it's over, _

'_cause would leave you alone."_

Rachel's face was filled with emotion, as she scanned the audience before fixing her gaze on Jesse once more. She held out her arm to him but the distance between them was too great so she slowly dropped it, all the time keeping her eyes locked on his.

"_Flooded with all this pain,_

_knowing that I'll never hold her."_

Jesse eyes were pleading with Rachel to give him another chance as he held his hand out to her, she smiled and shook her head.

"_Like I did, before the storm."_

They sang the last line together and Jesse smiled as the pair moved forward again, this time making their way onto the stage, the audience cheered loudly as the young couple were finally reunited up on the stage.

"_With every strike of lightening."_

Jesse stood still at the edge of the stage as he directed his words towards Rachel who was slowly approaching him, if he wasn't so sure before hand then he was positive that this song was having the effect on her that he wished it would.

"_Comes a memory that lasts."_

Rachel took his hand softly and stared deep into his eyes, she smiled and gently lowered her head.

"_And not a word is left unspoken,"_

As they sang together, Jesse cautiously placed his arm around her, receiving applause from various audience members.

"_As the thunder starts the crash,"_

Still a little uncomfortable with the lack of space between them, Rachel shook her head, still smiling at him and slowly began to move away from him.

"_Maybe I should give up?"_

She performed this out towards the audience, hoping that they'd respond to it, although she felt as if she was in character, she was also beginning to realise that this song was extremely relevant to her current situation, and she still didn't know which way to turn. She sighed and continued to make the gap between herself and Jesse even bigger.

"_Standing out in the rain,_

_I need to know if it's over, _

'_cause would leave you alone._

"_Flooded with all this pain,_

_knowing that I'll never hold her."_

Suddenly the curtains parted revealing the rest of New Directions who were now joining in with the chorus, Rachel briefly glanced at them and smiled before turning her attention back to Jesse who was slowly re-joining the group.

"_Like I did before the storm."_

Jesse held the last note and Rachel froze momentarily as she stared at him and the pure rawness that he was giving to his performance. She'd only ever seen him perform like this once before, and that was when he serenaded her in the park all those weeks ago. It seemed like a lifetime ago to her now.

"_Trying to keep, the lights from going out!"_

Rachel belted out the notes as she stepped forward, Jesse mimicking her actions as he took over from her.

"_And the clouds from ripping out my broken heart."_

Rachel and Jesse turned to face each other and Jesse noticed the tears brimming in Rachel's eyes, quickly she wiped them and the pair started walking towards each other again.

"_You always said, the heart is not a home,_

_Without the one, who gets you through the storm."_

Rachel collapsed into Jesse's arms and he held her tightly, he could feel her body shaking against his as she desperately tried to prevent her tears from falling. Suddenly the music cut out and Rachel lifted her head from Jesse's chest and the pair began singing purely to each other.

"_Standing out in the rain, _

_Knowing that it's really over,_

_Please don't leave me alone."_

The music picked up again and New Directions continued with the vocals as Rachel and Jesse composed themselves, Rachel quickly wiped her eyes and clasped Jesse's hand as they walked towards the centre of the stage.

The audience jumped to their feet as the song came to an end, Jesse smiled at Rachel who immediately dropped his hands, shocked that she'd been overruled by her emotions. Jesse looked momentarily stunned as she backed away from him and ran into her next position, but he simply shook his head and followed her head. He knew she had felt something during that performance and that had to mean something, that would be enough for now, he'd have to get her on her later for a more detailed analysis of their current situation. He didn't have much time to think about his next move however, as the music started playing loudly for 'Don't Stop Me Now' and he had to concentrate on the choreography in order for them to stand a chance at winning this thing. Not that he was too concerned about winning a competition, he was more concerned in winning Rachel's heart and trust back once and for all.

When the performance had come to an end, Brittany immediately clasped Rachel's hand and pulled her in the direction of the dressing room. The rest of New Directions followed them, an air of excitement surrounding them. Jesse couldn't help feeling left out as he entered the dressing room; he glanced in Rachel's direction and smiled as she was caught up in a conversation with Matt and Brittany. He smiled and lowered his head, taking a seat as near to the door as possible. He wasn't really expecting anyone to talk to him really; after all he wasn't the most popular person in the room, but he was a part of New Directions again wasn't he? He had just helped them out when they needed him the most, he just sighed and shook his head as he considered his thoughts alone.

"Jesse?" he jumped slightly, as he realised that he wasn't alone anymore, he turned his head and smiled slightly as Mr Schuster crouched down next to him.

"I'm not to sure what's been going on between you kids, and frankly it's none of my business." Jesse nodded, agreeing whole heartedly with his former teacher, "However, I just want to say that you and Rachel were brilliant together on stage, and I for one am extremely grateful that you agreed to help us today." Will patted his shoulder and Jesse smiled at him.

"Thank you," he said quietly, before turning his attention back to Rachel again. Will nodded as he walked over to congratulate his students.

Rachel had never experienced this feeling of pure adrenaline before, sure she had been excited after their Sectional's performance, her performance was sublime after all, but seeing the audience react to them like that, it was simply amazing. She had been so confused throughout the entire performance, it had blurred throughout, all she could remember was looking deep into Jesse's eyes and feeling as if she was home. That was the reason that she had clung to Brittany and Matt ever since they had left the stage, she didn't want to left alone with Jesse ever again, she'd been a fool when she'd told herself that she was over him. But the truth was, she simply didn't want to get hurt again.

"Hey, are you okay?" Matt asked her, noticing that she had appeared to zone out momentarily.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine," she smiled, linking arms with him. Matt nodded but he wasn't entirely convinced as he followed Rachel's eye line over to where Jesse was sitting. He wasn't stupid; he knew that Rachel had been heavily affected during that performance, he could tell as soon as the curtain lifted and he was finally able to see her and Jesse on stage together.

"Why don't you go and talk to him?" he suggested, Rachel gulped and shook her head.

"I can't," she whispered, "I just can't do it." Matt nodded understandably, and decided not to pursue, the matter anymore. He knew Rachel well enough that when she set her mind to something, it was pretty difficult to change it.

The competition continued and New Directions were trying not to focus on the efforts of the other clubs, particularly Vocal Adrenaline. Even though they could hear the applause creep into their dressing room, no one mentioned a thing, they knew that they'd performed to the best of their abilities and that was all that mattered to them. Everyone was deep in conversation, no one seeming to notice that Quinn was in some discomfort, she tried to put it down to nerves of the competition, but after a couple of sharp pains, she knew that this was more than nerves. Slowly she stood up from her chair and made her way over to Puck, but before she could reach him she let out a sharp scream and clung to Mercedes for support. Within seconds Puck was by her side bombarding her with questions.

"Is it the baby? Is it time? Oh God…" he trailed off as Mr Schuster came running into the room. He rallied around Quinn and attempted to keep her calm, whilst organising the Glee kids who were now in a state of panic.

"Okay guys, we need to get Quinn to the hospital, everyone out to the bus now, Puck call the hospital to let them know we're on our way, everyone move!" Quickly everyone picked up their belongings and headed for the door behind Mr Schuster and Mike who were supporting Quinn.

"Someone needs to stay here for the results, we'll be disqualified if we all leave now," Rachel announced, yet again everyone froze and the only sound heard was Quinn's deep breathing, she let out another sharp shriek and Rachel shook her head.

"It's fine, you go, I'll wait here,' she smiled,

"Rachel, we can't leave you here on your own," Mr Schuster sighed.

"Quinn needs you more than I do right now, I'll be fine really," she explained, Mr Schuster still looked uncomfortable with the idea until Jesse stepped forward.

"I'll stay with her," Rachel forced a smile and watched as her friends left the room, leaving her alone with Jesse for the second time that day.

The drama had subsided and the two teens sat in an uncomfortable silence, Jesse took this opportunity to glance at Rachel when he thought she wasn't looking, she noticed him every time.

"I thought you were really great today," he smiled, Rachel lifted her head and half smile,

"Thanks, you weren't too bad either," Jesse laughed and the pair returned to silence. It lasted a matter of minutes before Jesse stood up and began pacing the room, causing Rachel to look up at him yet again. She watched him for a few seconds, finding herself enchanted by him, before remembering that she was still furious with him.

"Now that we're alone, can we please talk?" He suddenly asked, breaking the silence, sighing quietly she nodded and Jesse moved to take the seat next to her.

"What I did to you was unforgivable, I understand that, but I just want you to know how truly sorry I really am."

"We were doing so well, I really thought we'd everything behind us," Rachel sighed, laying her feelings on the line for the first time in weeks, "I just don't understand what changed between us? I thought we were finally happy."

"I honestly don't have an answer for you," he explained, "Vocal Adrenaline just got in the way of everything, and I'm aware that it's a feeble excuse, but it's the only one I've got. I should never have allowed them to go ahead with egging you like that, but I was weak and I was struggling to find a way to get Vocal Adrenaline to trust me again, they saw me that night talking to Matt and the others, it was their way of forcing me to prove my allegiance to them." He finished and took a deep breath and Rachel watched as he did so, a part of her wanted to reach out to him, she wanted to feel as close to him as she had done on the stage less than an hour ago, but she resisted the urge and kept a distance.

"As soon as I placed the egg on your forehead I regretted it, but I knew it was too late to take it back, I knew then that I didn't belong in Vocal Adrenaline anymore, I hated who I'd become to fit in with them. Then when Mr Schuster called me demanding I come to McKinley, I knew it was the only opportunity I'd get to see you before the competition,"

"You left before we'd finished performing, if you wanted to see me so badly, why didn't you wait for me?" Rachel asked softly, fed up of arguing with him.

"I saw you dancing with Matt and the others and I saw how happy you were, I didn't want to ruin that for you again, I'd upset you so much recently, so I decided I'd come today, I snuck backstage to wish you luck,"

Rachel sighed, unsure what to say anymore, she stared at Jesse and was finally able to see him, he looked more vulnerable than she'd ever seen him before, and that startled her. She knew Jesse could be just as emotional as her, but unlike her, he was able to control his emotions. She stood up and walked across the room glanced out of the window, she considered everything that Jesse had said to her, she was so fed up with arguing with him, she felt like she had to be the bigger person here, she could forgive him, she was a very forgiving person, but she doubted that she'd ever be able to have some form of relationship with him again. There was simply too much water under the bridge between them now. She let out a determined sigh and slowly walked back over to Jesse, she took the vacant seat next to him and took a deep breath.

"I forgive you," she said softly, he looked up at her, his eyes full of hope.

"Do you mean it?" he asked, she smiled and nodded. Jesse grinned and reached out to hug her, but Rachel kept her distance, Jesse frowned and Rachel shook her head.

"I'm sorry Jesse, I'm able to forgive you, but I don't think I'll ever be ready to pick up where we left of, I hope you can understand," Jesse sighed and nodded, giving Rachel a soft smile.

"Your forgiveness is much more than I deserve, so of course I'm okay with that,"


	19. Chapter 19

**So here we are, we finally made it! This is the last chapter of this. Thank you so much to everyone who has read this, added this to their favourites, put it on alert and a special thank you to those of you who have taken the time to leave me a review. It was reading those comments that kept me going with this, even when it got tough to write.**

**Thank you to everyone who have taken this journey with me, and making my first Glee story such a special one, I know it hasn't been perfect, but it's been a joy to write and establish this relationship more than they ever did on the TV show - which is a HUGE mistake on their part. I hope you're all satisfied with the way that this story ends, I thought it was a great way to end this story.**

**One more thing that you may be interested in, I'm thinking of writing another Glee story, I'm torn between 3 ideas at the moment, with 3 different couples. Of course, I have another idea for a Rachel/Jesse story, unrelated to this one, but the idea won't leave me alone, it's been nagging at me for weeks now. I also have an idea for a Blaine/Rachel story (I know I may be in the minority, but I loved them in 'Blame it on the alcohol') and then the final idea I have is a Sam/Rachel story (Yes, they've never really interacted that much, and he's with Mercedes now, but I think they'd be sweet together, as he's a better, more likeable version of Finn :D)**

**Anyway, thank you one last time, and if you have any suggestions for my next story then let me know, I'll take all ideas on board.**

The afternoon continued and Rachel found herself relaxing in Jesse's company, sometimes wishing that things were different between them, she knew that Jesse was to because every now and then he'd give her the same look of love that he'd used so many times whilst they were dating. Rachel tried to push those feelings to the back of her mind, by using Vocal Adrenaline's performance as a distraction. Jesse had mentioned that they were about to perform and Rachel just couldn't resist a chance to watch them perform, so the two of them made their way to the back of the theatre where they'd hopefully remain hidden from the rest of the room. Jesse watched as Rachel stared in awe at Vocal Adrenaline on stage, even though Jesse had deserted them less than a week ago, they were still performing like professionals. Rachel gulped nervously and turned to face Jesse.

"They're really good," she confided, Jesse smiled at her and nodded.

"Well they are three times National champions," Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed as she turned her attention back to the performance on stage, "But we were better today, the judges will see that for themselves, we had the heart and soul that Vocal Adrenaline don't, we had you." He reached out and squeezed Rachel's hand and for the first time that day she didn't flinch at his touch, instead she just smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you Jesse," she whispered contently. Before the two stood in silence as they watched Vocal Adrenaline finish their practically flawless performance of Queen's 'We are the Champions.'

"We should um…we should head back now," Rachel said quietly as she unleashed herself from Jesse's grasp and began walking away, Jesse felt the warmth in his hand disappear when Rachel removed her hand and suddenly felt empty, as he followed slowly behind her.

"Hey Rachel," Rachel and Jesse were pulled from their thoughts as they walked back into the room to see Finn stood awkwardly on a pair of crutches, waiting for them. Overcome with her emotions Rachel ran over to hug him, Finn laughed and awkwardly placed an arm around her.

"I was so worried about you," Rachel whispered, forgetting that Jesse was in the room momentarily as she noticed the rest of New Directions filing into the room.

"I'm fine Rachel, I just need to rest, but I had to come and support you all, especially after how hard we all worked, I'm just sorry that I missed your performance," Rachel smiled and bit her lip, suddenly remembering that Jesse, who had now made his way to the opposite side of the room, away from the rest of the group.

"If it hadn't have been for Jesse, then we wouldn't have been able to perform at all," Finn rolled his eyes and nodded, he'd already been filled in on what had happened prior to their performance, he was furious with himself for not getting up on time, and because of that he was going to have to thank Jesse for something. Only Finn Hudson could get this muddled up. Finn excused himself and slowly made his way across the room, leaving Rachel to catch up with her friends.

"How are Quinn and Noah doing?" Rachel asked as she took the vacant seat between Matt and Brittany.

"Well, they've had a baby girl, Puck isn't dealing too well with it though, I think he really thought that Quinn would reconsider the adoption idea," Rachel let out a sympathetic smile and Matt just shrugged, New Directions knew that it was coming, they'd had months to come around to the idea, but they'd never really considered the struggle that the two teens would be going through once the baby was born. As Rachel sat back and considered this, she felt heartbroken; but it certainly put her problems into perspective.

"I can't even begin to imagine how they must be feeling," Rachel sighed, "It must be so hard to just give up your baby like that," then she paused as she considered what she'd just said, knowing that years ago she'd been the baby in question, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath not wanting to have to reconsider those emotions that she'd locked tight away.

"You really need to tell her," Mike hissed,

"Why me?" Matt whispered.

"Because she's closer to you," Rachel frowned and slowly opened her eyes, noticing the two boys exchanging nervous glances, Brittany stood in the middle of them, beaming at Rachel.

"What do you need to tell me?" she asked cautiously, Matt sighed and glanced at Mike who nodded at him.

"Well we were just getting ready to leave and…" He paused and glanced at Mike again for reassurance,

"Matt please," Rachel persisted, placing her hand on his arm.

"Well, your mum turned up at the hospital, she was talking to Quinn and Puck about Beth, she told them she was considering adoption again," Rachel inhaled deeply again but managed to keep herself calm.

"She can do what she wants, she's nothing to do with me," she announced, her exterior breaking slightly.

"Well, she asked them whether they'd consider allowing her to adopt Beth, we left them discussing the details," Rachel felt her eyes begin to fill with tears.

"Well I suppose it makes sense, she may as well replace me as easily as she forgot about me." and with that she broke down in tears and allowed Matt and Brittany to engulf her in a strong hug, not caring anymore that the majority of the room were now staring at her.

"Hey, can I sit here?" Jesse removed his eyes from Rachel and glanced up at Finn who was standing on crutches in front of him. He shrugged and shifted across on the sofa. Slowly Finn took his seat, and the two boys sat in an uncomfortable silence.

"So erm…I just want to thank you for stepping in like you did, it was pretty cool." Finn mumbled quietly, Jesse shrugged and glanced in Rachel's direction again, who was now being comforted by New Directions, he watched intently as Matt never moved his arm from around her, and he wished desperately that it was him that she'd run to for comfort.

"Well whatever, I'm grateful that you helped out the way you did, you didn't need to," Finn struggled to his feet and Jesse sighed quietly.

"Finn." Finn stopped and turned to face Jesse, "Thanks yeah?" Finn smiled and slumped in the chair opposite Jesse, who had returned to staring at Rachel.

"You still have feelings for her don't you?" Finn asked quietly, Jesse shrugged took another glance at Rachel before nodding.

"Of course I do, I messed up big time," he admitted, "But she gave me her forgiveness I can't really ask for much more than that can I?" he asked. Finn shrugged, as he watched the rest of New Direction flock around Rachel. Jesse sighed and rested his head on the back of the chair.

"I suppose you thought your luck had changed when things turned sour between us," Jesse asked quietly, Finn stared at him and Jesse shrugged, "I know you never really liked the idea of me being with Rachel, you couldn't wait to play the hero and sweep in and save the day."

"Yeah, you and me didn't always see eye to eye, and I've got to be honest, I always figured that Rachel and I would eventually end up together, but since you left she's distanced herself from me. We've actually had more arguments than anything else." Finn paused as Jesse sighed quietly, "Although she probably won't admit it, I'd bet anything that she still feels something for you, that's just Rachel."

"I just don't know what to do to prove to her that I'm serious about her. I'm Jesse St James, former star of Vocal Adrenaline, I've never had this trouble expressing myself before, she just has this effect on me." He paused as he watched Rachel leave the room with Brittany and the rest of the girls; the room fell considerably quieter as he continued to feel at a loss of what to do next.

"You did hurt her pretty bad though dude, I mean she's been slushied for years and the target for countless bullying exercises, but I don't think any of that hurt her as much as you did, she trusted you, she let you get closer to her than anyone had ever before,"

"I know, and if I could take back everything then I would, but what's done is done," Finn shrugged, knowing more than most the effect that Rachel could have on a guy.

The afternoon went by quicker than the members of New Directions could imagine and before they knew it they were being called back to the stage to hear the impending results. Still not feeling like a true member of New Directions, Jesse kept himself to the edge of the group, fully aware of the glares that he was receiving from Vocal Adrenaline. Rachel found herself in the centre of New Directions, desperately trying not to seek Jesse out on the stage, but failing miserably. She too had felt the warmth disappear from her hand when she had let go of Jesse, it was as if he was a part of her, it was killing her to simply ignore these strong feelings that she had for him, but deep down she knew that she was doing the right thing, at least she hoped she was. The atmosphere was tense amongst the three groups, each of them determined to make it to the National competition.

"And now, please welcome to the stage our Regional competition judges," The room erupted in applause and New Directions clung tighter together.

"Before we deliver our results, we'd just like to thank all of the clubs who have performed today, you've all delivered some outstanding performances," Rachel subtly rolled her eyes and urged her to get on with it.

"In second place…." She paused for dramatic effect and Rachel could have hit her there and then, 'Aural Intensity!" Rachel watched as the opposing Glee Club erupted as they ran forward to collect their trophy before leaving the stage. New Directions and Vocal Adrenaline shuffled closer together, and Rachel closed her eyes tightly anticipating the result, Jesse stole a glance in her direction and smiled at her determination. He took a deep breath as the judge picked up the final envelope.

"And now, in first place and going on to perform in the National competition is…" slowly she opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of card inside. "New Directions!"

Rachel was the first to react as she screamed loudly as the rest of New Directions allowed the news to slowly sink in, Rachel hugged Matt tighter than she had ever done before jumping up to hug Finn, despite him struggling to keep his balance on his crutches. Jesse watched from the side-lines, happy for them as they celebrated their win, but he was caught off guard as Rachel flung herself at him.

"We did it!" she shrieked, he smiled and reacted instinctively by tightening his grip around her, he inhaled deeply as her strawberry shampoo filled his nostrils. Rachel closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest contently, the pair of them lost in their own private world. They were pulled from their private bubble as Finn coughed loudly behind them, reminding them both that they were still on the stage. Rachel lifted her head and smiled shyly at Jesse.

"Thanks Jesse," she said quietly before heading off in the opposite direction to catch up with the rest of New Directions who were now making their way back to their dressing room.

Finn and Jesse stood awkwardly staring at each other, but it was Jesse who cracked first by holding out his hand to Finn.

"Congratulations, good luck at Nationals." Finn gratefully took his head and smiled.

"Thanks, and as much as it pains me to say this, don't give up on her, if she means as much to you as you say, then you'll fight for her," Jesse nodded and Finn walked away giving him plenty to think about.

As New Directions left the stage, Jesse glanced in the direction of Vocal Adrenaline and couldn't help giving them a smug smile as they struggled to adapt to the news that they wouldn't be heading to New York for the forth time in as many years. He knew he was pushing his luck by being on the stage alone with them, but he was genuinely happy for New Directions and he knew that deep down he had made things right between himself and Rachel and that was far more important than winning a lousy Glee competition. Sure he had helped New Directions to lift the trophy, but it belonged to them not him and for once, he was okay with that.

"Rachel, can I talk to you please?" Jesse asked as he walked back into New Directions dressing room, where they we all packing up their belongings ready for the journey back to Lima. Rachel glanced around her before nodding and walking to a corner of the room, away from prying ears.

"I just wanted to say that you were amazing today and it was an honour to perform with you," he said quietly, Rachel smiled and blushed at his words.

"What's all this about Jesse?" she asked wearily.

"Earlier today, you told me that you were able to forgive me Rachel, and that really meant a lot to me, but if you'd let me, I'd still like to attempt to make it up to you." Rachel sighed quietly as she stared at Jesse, "You're the most important thing in my life right now and I'd just like an opportunity to prove it to you." he stepped forward and clasped her hands pulling her closer to his body. Her eyes locked with his and momentarily she began giving into her instincts, their heads moving closer together, their eyes slowly closing, but as their lips were just inches away she backed out and shook her head.

"I can't. I'm sorry Jesse, I need to go." she turned on her heel and dashed out of the room, leaving Jesse feeling broken, he remained there as the rest of New Directions gathered their belongings, none of them giving him a second glance.

Jesse hung back as New Directions began making their way onto the bus, he sighed as he watched Rachel board with Matt, a sad smile on her face. As Finn boarded the bus he glanced over at Jesse and simply nodded at him. Jesse returned the nod and took a deep breath relishing in the understanding the two boys had developed over such a short amount of time. Finn Hudson, the person that he'd argued with constantly throughout his time at McKinley High, was now the only person who could understand his situation with Rachel. It was funny how things could change. Jesse leant on a nearby tree as he watched the bus depart the parking lot and in a split second he knew what he was going to do. His senses suddenly kicked in and he was running towards his car fumbling for his keys, only thinking about one thing – Rachel Berry.

Rachel was relatively quiet on the bus, even though it was full of excited chatter, everyone excited by their win and their adventure to Nationals in New York, Kurt was of course already planning what they were going to wear, Santana had announced that her parents were away and that she was throwing a party for everyone. Rachel hardly heard any of this however, her mind was constantly flicking back to that moment with Jesse, how close their bodies were, how she desperately wanted to kiss him, how genuine he sounded when he told her that she was the most important thing in his life. She was desperately wanted to believe him, give in to her instincts and forget everything that had happened, but unfortunately her straight talking head won the battle with her heart, where Jesse had already set up home. So she let out a deflated sigh and tried to force herself to be excited about Nationals, New York and Santana's party. Matt glanced at her and smiled at her.

"You'll be okay Rachel, you've got National's to focus on now, and you were born for New York!" Rachel smiled gratefully and returned to staring out of the window.

Upon arriving back at McKinley, everyone gathered their belongings and began getting off the bus, pausing when they reached the final step.

"No way!" Rachel heard Kurt shout as he left the bus, she stared at Matt who shrugged and walked towards the front with Mike and Brittany as Rachel collected the rest of her things.

"Here let me get that for you," Rachel smiled at Finn and shook her head.

"I think you should concentrate on getting yourself off the bus first, we can't deal with anymore injuries before we head to New York," Finn laughed and nodded as the two made their way to the front of the bus. Rachel watched as Finn stepped down slowly, he too paused and glanced across the parking lot. Rachel frowned as she noticed everybody else do the same thing.

"What on earth is going on?" she asked as Finn shuffled out of the way, she stepped off the bus and Brittany and Kurt pointed to the opposite side of the parking lot where Jesse was stood in front of his car, waiting for them, waiting for her. She turned around and gave her friends a confused glance who simply shrugged at her. In fact it was Finn that surprised the group.

"Just go and see what he has to say," he stated, she glanced over to Brittany who was nodding eagerly. Rachel smiled and handed her bag to Matt before making her way over to Jesse.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, smiling at Jesse who was still leaning on his car.

"I'm not giving up on you Rachel, no matter how long it takes, you're the most important part of my life right now, I won't do it," Jesse stated walking towards her, her heartbeat increasing rapidly as he approached her.

"You say that now, you're going to UCLA in the fall, what happens then?" she asked wearily.

"I'm not going," he stated flatly, Rachel gasped and shook her head.

"What? That's a ridiculous thing to say. You can't mess with your future like that!" Jesse smiled at her concerned and shook her head.

"What's a future without you in it?" he asked quietly, "When I said you're the most important thing in my life, I meant it." He stared at her and could tell that she was faltering.

"I know it's not going to be easy, but I love you Rachel, and I'm willing to give up everything for you," Rachel smiled, tears now brimming.

"I'm not sure that we could ever go back to how we were," she admitted, wiping her eyes. Jesse smiled and took her hands in his, the two of them feeling that spark once more.

"We'll never go back to how we were," Rachel frowned and looked up to him, "Because we'll be so much better, no more secrets."

"I don't know Jesse…" she trailed off as his lips came crashing down onto hers and finally Rachel gave into her heart and she found herself happier than she'd been in weeks. Rachel deepened the kiss, and began to run her hands through his wavy hair, Jesse pulled her tighter into him and the pair finally felt complete. The kiss came to an end and Rachel pulled away, resting her hands on his shoulders.

"I know you're scared Rachel, but I promise you this time will be different. We fit together, we're like Danny and Sandy," Rachel giggled and rested her forehead against his chest, "We both know it's not going to be easy, but it would be boring if it was, all I'm asking for is one more chance, one more chance for us both to be happy," Rachel lifted her head and stared at him.

"Just say yes Rachel!" Rachel and Jesse turned from where they were standing to see Brittany grinning at them both. Rachel giggled and glanced back at Jesse, who was smiling at her.

"No more secrets?" she asked.

"No more secrets," he confirmed before Rachel reached up to kiss him one more time, only this time with the sound of New Directions cheering loudly in the background. As the two pulled away again, Jesse grinned down at a blushing Rachel.

"I think, that this is the start of a beautiful relationship,"


End file.
